


Just Business

by JasonRae117



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Breaking Up & Making Up, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Dick Grayson is Robin, F/M, Flashbacks, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jason Todd is Red X, Love Triangles, Multi, Past Relationship(s), Possibly Unrequited Love, Sex, Wayne Manor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:48:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 50,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24947905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JasonRae117/pseuds/JasonRae117
Summary: He shouldn't be here. SHE shouldn't be here. For him it was just business, then why was it so pleasurable? Told through some flashbacks on the coming together and falling apart of relationships. Present plot continues in later chapters. Lemons and a lot of drama. Robrae (Dick Grayson) and Jayrae pairings.
Relationships: Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson & Koriand'r & Garfield Logan & Raven & Victor Stone, Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, Dick Grayson/Raven, Raven & Red X (DCU), Raven/Jason Todd
Comments: 32
Kudos: 107





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, This was originally posted on Fanfiction but wanted to expand horizons. I still update there too but want to give better access to my story! This was my first fanfic and I am really proud of it. Chapter lengths do vary and I promise they get longer. It's also nowhere near completed, so join me on this journey! Enjoy!

Robin/ Dick Grayson POV

He should not be here. She should not be here. It was supposed to be just business but how did it turn out to be this pleasurable?

3 months ago

Had he not known her for years as teens, he wouldn't have recognized her as the mysterious and now sinfully tempting goth titan. It was their shared bond he sensed first and then the soft pale flesh of her thighs that gave her away. When she'd gotten around to taking off the light cotton bag over his head his "buddies' ' had thrown over him as part of the scene they were setting for their undercover work, all movement stopped. All sound stopped. The whole world stopped as they locked eyes. Cerulean blue eyes stared into deep amethyst eyes.

Raven abruptly got off his lap leaving a deep aching within him. Just as Richard thought that was going to be the end of their interaction she grabbed his wrist, bid his coworkers farewell on both their behalfs and dragged him toward the private showrooms. He tried to avoid staring at Raven's ass barely concealed beneath thin black leather panties trimmed in a navy blue ribbon where her ass cheeks peeked out the bottom. Richard could feel his member twitch still burning from the ache. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt himself be thrown onto a leather sofa and a heavy wooden door slam. When he looked up he saw a very angry Raven glaring at his with her arms crossed over her scantily clad chest.

"What do you think you're doing here? Are you trying to keep tabs on all of us again?" She huffed and started pacing the dimly lit room, " I thought we were done with this, with us... I mean the team! It's been two years Dick, let us live our own lives."

Richard just stared dumbfounded, at a loss for words at her aggressive rant. All he could think to say was hello.

"Hello? That's all you're going to say after you let me give you a lap dance in front of all your friends?

"Raven," he started, " I'm not trying to do anything to interrupt your...um..life"

"Then what the hell was that out there? Hm? Were you trying to prove something to them or to me?" She cut him off.

"No, listen..."

"No, Dick," His nickname sounded so harsh as she spat it out at him, "You listen. You broke the team up, broke our family up for what? So you can go and start a new life in Gotham where you can be pals with Bruce again? I don't want to see you right now." Raven turned back to the heavy door and just as she put her hand on the knob, Richard stood up ready to defend himself. Next thing he knew Raven had tackled him back to the sofa but she was straddling him, awakening his member again as she grinded into him.

"Rav-" He started.

"Shh shut up for a second," she hissed in his ear. She flipped around in his lap letting her ass rub against his pelvis now. She grabbed his hand and guided them over her soft curves. He could have sworn he heard a light swoosh coming from the entryway but brushed it off and he threw his head back relishing in the silky mounds he held in his hands and the coolness from Raven's hands on his own.

He heard that same sound again that drew him from his ecstasy and in the next moment Raven was across the room again. A soft chuckle escaped her lips.

"I was about to apologize but it seems to me that you didn't mind a bit." She cocked her eyebrow and pointedly looked at his crotch. Finally having some blood return to his brain he followed her line of sight and saw his erect member creating a sizable tent in his suit pants. A blush crept up his face as he stood to adjust himself.

"Raven what the hell was that? First you yell at me, then cut me off when I was trying to explain and now you just jump on me again like we're back out in the lounge? I thought you were suppose to be pissed for me being here, not trying to get me off!"

"Look Dick, you don't understand how this place works, how it runs. I only jumped back on you because Big Louie was 'checking on us for our safety' there's a sliding peephole essentially to each room back here and I sensed him coming and didn't want to make anyone suspicious. You're turn."

"I don't like that Rae, that seems inappropriate and honestly creepy."

"Richard," she sighed, "you can't come to my place of business for a surprise visit and act all concerned. I know what I'm doing here and I know how this business works. So if we're done here, because I definitely am. Please leave." She went over to the closet in the corner of the room and pulled out a black satin robe.

"Raven, I promise you I had no idea you were here nor that you had to be the one to give me a lap dance. My colleagues and I have been planning to do some undercover work here to investigate the potential sex traffiking ring happening in this city. We have a lead pointing us here. The celebration out there was a front and nothing more. However, us meeting must have been fate." For a second he thought he saw her resolve soften a little and a pause as she was securing the belt on her robe. He continued, "I mean you could give me insider information and I can help you get out of here!"

Whatever softness he thought her body language held immediately dissolved. "You never changed a bit Dick, and for being a big shot detective you are so clueless. Not to mention I don't need you help to get out of here, I am where I'm supposed to be-"

"You don't belong here Rae, you used to be a superhero, what happened? You have so much to you that can be used for good. Don't waste that!"

Raven chuckled darkly. "I'm here because I'm undercover too boy blunder. Azar, do you really think I'm so hopeless without the team that the best I could do is work at a gentlemen's club? Thanks for that and no I don't think we need the Gotham PD to work on the same case. We've got it handled."

"I'm sorry Raven. I didn't mean it like that. I just thought-"

"And that's where your first mistake was. You always think too much." The last bit she said with a hint of sadness. He went to reach toward her but stopped himself, instead he continued the weighted discussion at hand.

"I'm on the Bludhaven roster for the time being now actually, as both Detective Grayson and Nightwing."

"Oh great more potential run-ins. Whatever, just drop this case. We've got it handled and we don't need any interference from either version of you."

"Who else are you working with? You keep saying 'we'?"

Raven smirked a little. "Jason."


	2. Chapter 2

**Richard's POV** :

Jason. Fucking. Todd. He thought to himself. His little brother, his Jaybird, and now his fucking competition. Jason, of all people, was working with Raven and having her dance half naked in front of these strange men. Richard wondered if there was a romance there or strictly business, he wished for the latter.

Sure Jason was handsome, he was strong with a muscular build. Richard still had an inch or two of height on him but Jason was broader and had the edge of strong, brute force behind him. Richard was more agile and calculated whereas Jason was unpredictable and rash. Yet, it seemed he was also more desirable to the dark woman before him.

Richard scowled at Raven crossing his arms over his chest, when he regained himself from the flurry of jealous emotions he spoke. "Why?" A simple question that seemed to throw Raven off. Perhaps she was expecting a bigger reaction?

"He needed someone suited to gain intel on this front and I'm basically the only female he trusts to work here without supervision and that can handle the whole emotional detachment that goes with this occupation.

"I still don't like this Rae."

"It isn't your decision to like Richard. Jason didn't just demand I work here. At a meeting he brought it up and I volunteered. He fought against it but when I presented him with an undeniably strong argument the rest of the council agreed and he had to follow suit. So don't go pinning this on Jason, it wasn't solely his decision."

"He could have fought harder sounds like he has a pretty strong pull in this council."

"Dick, you're not listening. I thought my talents were best put to use here end of story. Now can we wrap this up so you can go back to being golden boy detective Dick."

"I still think we can work together Rae. I mean I have the law on my side and you have-"

"The Outlaws on mine." Raven now had her arms crossed and was glaring at him. Dick stood there dumbfounded. Raven worked with criminals now? His old teammate was an outlaw? So that makes Jason

"Red Hood!"

"Excuse me?"

"Jason is Red Hood. You're working with fucking criminals now Raven? What has gotten into you. Batman is trying to stop Red Hood along with almost everyone else in that gang. And Jason, my brother, is the fucking leader?!"

"Good job detective, but Bruce already knew Jason was Red Hood. They got into a fight last year and he found out then. Plus you knew he was Red X after you got your head out of your ass. Do you think he just decided to hang up his suit and retire everything once Red X stopped making headlines and eventually disappeared?"

Richard sat back down and put his head in his hands, running his fingers through his sleek black hair. "So you're with Jason now huh? Like actually together in a relationship?"

Raven sighed and sat down on the leather sofa next to him staring forward. "Yes, I am."

He rested his elbows on his knees with his shoulders slumped and turned to look at her. She was so beautiful even in the dinghy lights. She looked almost sad as she stared ahead. At the silence she turned to look at him. Once they made eye contact everything stopped again. He wanted to get lost in her deep emotion filled eyes. He could see into her soul through these amethyst orbs. He saw hope that had always been there since he knew her, he saw longing but for what he had no idea, and he saw just a bit of regret.

Dick took a well needed deep breath and leaned back. "How long have you been with him?" He turned and tilted his head in her direction. Her shoulders seemed to slump a little at his move to create distance between them.

"A year and a half."

He perked up again. A year and a half? That would mean shortly after the christmas ball he invited her to at Wayne Manor. "What the fuck Raven? We were-"

"Nothing Dick. We were nothing." She cut him off and stood up hastily storming toward the door again. "You made sure of that. And Jason made sure I knew what he wanted. He wanted me Dick. After a few months..." she said with her back to him, hand on the knob. She threw a glance over her shoulder. He was standing now, hands slack at his side mouth prepared to say something. "... I let him have me." With that final statement she was out the door without allowing him to respond.

He was left, mouth agape staring blankly at whete Raven had been just moments before. Big Louie had now come in with a tablet in hand. " Hey time to pay up. I've got noted here a lap dance, personal room, and extra experience." Extra experience? Fuck, Raven was sending a message to his wallet too. He handed the man a wad of cash. Big Louie finally looked up.

"Fuck, is this Richard Grayson? What brings you to my fine establishment? Girls treat you right? I know the dark bird here could be a tad abrasive but she's got an ass that half them men want a piece of. A fan favorite for sure. If i weren't a respectable owner I'd tell her to bend right over and-"

"Yeah she's great." Dick said with a tightly set jaw. " In fact, I would like to book weekly sessions with her exclusively in the..ahem.. most private room you've got. Also, Grayson will not be coming back if you get me. I'll pay a premium to have this arrangement followed."

Big Louie screwed up his face as he processed what he was saying. Dick saw the gear click until he saw the light bulb go off. " , Mister Smith. I'll see to it that you'll be getting the best treatment we've got here. I'll set the dates for ya and I'll see to it you get the Fortress suite." He nudged his arm and shook Richards hand.

"Glad we have an understanding."

"Sure anything Mister Gra..Smith, Mister Smith sir. See you next week."

"Next week, yes, see you then." Richard smirk and walked out the backdoor of the 'gentlemen's' club. He was going to continue to see Raven, to work with her, whether she wanted to or not. She'd come around. At least on one front of her 'business' she had no choice but to abide by his requests. He wasn't overly fond of what their next meeting was going to be like once she found out what he planned but it would be worth it. She is worth it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Raven's POV**

_ A year and 9 months ago _

Raven rolled over to emptiness on the other side of the bed. She always did. Robin would get up even earlier than she did and would start his morning routine: workout, eat, research and filing. He was very predictable and it was one of the things she found endearing. She pulled the covers off and reached for her discarded robe on the floor. She had an idea to disrupt Robin's routine for once and she was positive it was going to work.

She finished tying the bow on her robe and headed for the records room. Nobody else was up at this time so she wasn't careful to be sneaky as they normally were. She stopped outside the door and heard the distinct noise of the typing on the keyboard. Bingo.

Raven phased silently through the door and glided behind, about to rest her hand on his shoulder Robin spoke.

"Rae, I know you're here. I'm the son of the bat after all." He spun around in his chair and she immediately felt a spike in his emotions, particularly the lustful ones. She felt his eyes roam over her body noting the absence of clothing or any material under her navy satin robe. It cut off mid thigh and as she walked closer toward him the opening gave him a sneak peak. Raven climbed on his lap and threw her arms around his neck. He responded by grasping onto her thighs and sliding his hands under the silky material until his hands rested on her hips tracing circles with his thumbs. "Rae, as much as I'm turned on right now I've got a lot to get settled and don't have time to...ahh rae..fuck." She rolled her hips into his against his hard member. She knew he felt everything because the only clothing creating any semblance of barrier was the thin material of his cotton pajama pants. She knew he hadn't bothered to put back on his underwear since they were still lying in her room.

Raven continued her minstations as he groaned into her neck where he finally started planting desperate kisses. She tilted her head back to give him more access as she untied her robe and allowed it to slink to the floor. Robin pulled back and stared at her, hunger growing in his eyes. "Raven, you truly are beautiful and you're going to kill me with this body of yours." He didn't hesitate to create a trail of kisses down her chest where he reached her peaked nipple. He began licking it, arousing her further while he toyed with the other. She reached beneath her to free his painfully hard member. Without any trouble she levitated a condom over to her and rolled it on. She was growing impatient and needed him desperately. She hovered her entrance over him and locked eyes. This was always the moment she knew everything was right with him. She could see it in his eyes, the mouth could spew lies but the eyes were always honest. With need impatiently filling his eyes, she lowered herself onto him and moaned at the perfect way he filled her. She rode him right in that office chair not having a care if it would withstand the constant thrusting. He met each of her thrusts with equal enthusiasm calling out her name and holding her close. She'd never been this intimate with anyone and never had a stronger bond that went beyond the one she forced into his mind. He was her best friend, he understood her like nobody else had. She was pretty sure she loved him.

She felt her walls tightening around him and she knew he was right there with her. His eyes shut and his panting growing heavier. She could feel her end near...she was so close...and then a ringing came from the desk. Robin huffed with frustration as he pulled his com toward him. His eyes went wide and he picked Raven up off him and hurriedly started to put himself back together. About to pick up the communicator he grabbed her and tugged her below the desk and tossed her robe at her. He put his finger to his lips as he finally answered, holding the com at face level only.

"Bruce, I thought you were in Metropolis trying to assist Superman with Lex again. To what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked with smooth confidence. She held back a laugh as he still looked a little flushed and his member was still partially erect from before. An idea sparked and she crawled up to his chair.

"Dick, I need you to come to Gotham for a couple of weeks. I'm afraid that we need to make a few appearances as ourselves for the holidays. I need you to attend the Christmas Ball this year seeing as though you managed to skip last year's. There's also a case I wanted to have a different opinion on. When can you be here?" Bruce always sounded serious and intimidating but at least slightly more relaxed without the cowl on.

Robin began to respond but sharply inhaled instead. Raven looked innocently up as he spared a quick glance down toward her. She has his member halfway in her mouth and began sucking again, letting her tongue dance its way to the head where she blew and repeated the process. Robin twitched but took a deep breath and continued the conversation at hand. "Bruce I can't just leave my team for two weeks. Who is supposed to lead them or fill in. This close to the holidays, nobody is going to cover me. I think I can..ah..hm...skip...the...ahhh...ball this year too." He brought his hand to the back of her head and pulled her in closer. He was all the way to the back of her throat and she sucked him leaving him with a slick coat of her saliva. She circled his head with the tip of her tongue and gently grazed her teeth from the bottom of the shaft to his head. She could feel him start to adjust and reposition himself, he was getting close.

"I've already arranged for Jinx and Kid Flash to take your place while you're gone. This isn't just about the public appearances Dick. I fear Joker may be back and I need to make sure. Jason will be staying with me here and I think it would be best if you were here for him too."

"Fine, I'll be there in two days. I'll let you know if I need anything else. I've got to get back to some important research so I'll be in touch. Robin out." With that he closed his communicator and placed his other hand on the back of Raven's head to join the other. "Fuck Raven. I could have gotten out of that but I don't think I could make a convincing excuse with you doing this." He started thrusting into her mouth until she felt him shuttering. With that he came in her mouth as he groaned her name out. She swallowed his seed and stood up cleaning herself up. He sat there head flung back as he tried to catch his breath. She finished tying the robe closed and began to make her way toward the exit.

"I should probably catch a shower and change. I'll meet you on the roof for meditation." She looked cheerfully at Robin. She knew he sometimes went into hyperdrive after a call from Batman.

"Sorry Rae, I've really got to get this all organized before I leave. I'll make it up to you, promise." With that he readjusted his clothes and swiveled around in his chair already shuffling papers. Raven quietly shut the door and headed toward her room. Collecting her things, she made her way to the bathroom and started her shower. She let the hot water roll down her body cleansing the accumulated sweat from the morning's activities. She couldn't explain why she felt hurt that he didn't want to meditate or even catch breakfast with her. She had looked over the reports yesterday and had known the workload was something Beastboy could have taken care of. There was something about going to Gotham that always got him in a funk, even after he returned home .

The last time he'd gone was two months ago. Three months after she and Robin had become secret lovers. He gave almost no notice, threw Raven in as active leader and wasn't heard from for three weeks. During that time they were mostly busy with basic criminals that almost stopped themselves with how poorly planned their attempted robberies were. Raven had been lonely and quite frankly bored. Beastboy had been sneaking to Terra's school trying to start fresh with her. Cyborg had been communicating with Martian Manhunter about galactic infrequencies they have been experiencing during league missions. Starfire requested leave about a week in and brought in Bumblebee to cover her. Of course that took up more of Cyborg's time as he spent leisure time courting Bee. Raven wasn't mad at any of them, disappointed nobody ever asked her to join, but how could she fault them? She almost always said no with some snarky or sarcastic remark to follow.

At the end of the third week since Robin left, Raven started to feel abandoned until she heard the R-cycle rev in the garage. She remembered greeting with enthusiasm. She leaned in for a kiss but was given a light hug. When he pulled back he must have noticed the confused and hurt expression but he brushed it off and defended his actions by claiming Cy might have had a camera in the garage. She didn't fully believe that was an authentic reason but she had been thrilled to have her best friend home again, her lover, her Robin.

The next day Starfire returned meaning Bumblebee went back to Titans East and Cy had more time to spend with the group. Life was getting back on track for Raven. Except that Robin hadn't come knocking on her door in weeks nor had he given her any sign of their relationship still existing. At first she was afraid to be pushy and seen as clingy. Technically they had no label and nobody knew about their late night activities but she had to know if he was in a stupor from Gotham or if he was done with her. She had to take matters into her own hand and so she had knocked on his door at one in the morning in nothing more than a silkie purple nightgown that stopped mid thigh. He couldn't resist, and he didn't. She had been able to get things back to normal after that.

That past experience left her worried for the next time he would leave. She wanted to be there for him but she didn't know how without blowing their secret. Not that she cared if her team knew but Robin was adamant about keeping their relationship or whatever it was underwraps from everyone. She tried not to think about herself being his dirty little secret but when the rest of the team thinks she is a lonely virgin that holes up her room, those types of thoughts cross her mind.

Was she good enough for him to want to be seen with her? Was she just his release? Did he love her the way she loves him? Does she deserve him?

He had already been in a relationship with Starfire and she couldn't compare in the looks department or so she thought. Star and Robin broke up a little over seven months ago and she wasn't sure if he was over Star yet. Being an empath has its downfalls, she sometimes felt his regret when he makes love to her and his longing when he has casual conversations with Star. He claims he is over her and wants to be with her but not openly. He had told her that she was special and didn't want to make her comfortable with what people might say or think. She had agreed for his sake but she didn't care, people were going to say and think whatever they wanted. She knew he was afraid to face what people would think of him, what Starfire would think of him.

Raven snapped out of her daydreaming and realized she had been in the shower moping for an hour. She quickly finished and went back to her room. As she entered she sensed another presence and turned on the lights to see Robin flopped on her bed asleep. She smiled and put her pajamas on then climbed onto the bed next to Robin. He began to stir and jolted awake.

"Oh, I'm sorry Rae. I didn't realize I had fallen asleep in here. I came to talk to you but you were in the shower for a while."

"You could have joined me." She rolled onto her side and propped her head on her hand. Robin didn't turn to look at her but he let a small chuckle out.

"Sorry Rae, wasn't in the mood. I had to talk to Bruce again to gather more details about my mission out there."

"Oh, I understand. Do you want to talk about it? Need any insight?"

"Actually," he finalled faced her, " that's what I came to see you about. Would you be able to come with me?"

Raven sat up and stared at him shocked. Robin never invited anyone to come with him to his old home. "Sure! I mean if you want me to come. I can arrange for someone to cover me."

Robin shook his head, "No, Bruce got both Kid Flash and Jinx so we would have been up one member anyway. But yes, I'd like for you to come." Raven smiled, a full blown smile. Those were reserved exclusively for Robin. She scooted close to him and put her hand on his face and before she could kiss him he grabbed the hand holding his cheek and brought it down toward their laps, head drooping with it.

"One more thing Raven." He sighed and looked up, sadness and guilt brimming his eyes. "We have to act only as teammates while we're there too. Nobody knows still and Jason can be annoying. Plus it's a dangerous city, the criminals don't need extra incentive to hurt you." Raven leaned in and captured his lips.

She broke the kiss and pressed her forehead to his. "So, in otherwords just keep acting how we are here. I know. Nobody will find out. I'm just glad you want to bring me to your home no matter the circumstance."

"I don't deserve you Raven. You're too good to me. I want to tell people. I'm not ashamed to be with you, I just don't want people to spread rumors and break our team apart." She nodded and kissed him again. She sensed his sincerity and surprisingly she felt some guilt mixed in. She'd have to ask about that later but right now she just wanted to cheer him up and show him how she felt towards him. They made love for a second time that day and fell asleep.

Raven admittedly was a little upset that she'd be going to meet his family as just his comrade but she also knew she'd be the first to meet them at all and to visit his childhood home. Starfire had told her how she used to beg him to meet his family but he never budged. The best she got was to meet Bruce over the communicator. That had been enough for a while for her. Raven felt a little smug knowing she was going to do something Robin's ex had dreamed of, it was bittersweet though for Starfire was introduced as his girlfriend and Raven wouldn't be. Raven decided then that she was going to try to convince Robin to reveal their relationship. She was going to wait until they were in Gotham so he couldn't uninvite her. Raven was almost giddy thinking about being Robin's girlfriend in the public eye. Normally she wouldn't care for such a status but people have been so cruel and she wanted to prove to them she was capable of love with someone so incredible.

The dream would hopefully turn to reality in just a few days.


	4. Chapter 4

_ 2 years ago (from present) at Wayne Manor _

** Raven's POV: **

She was very nervous. Today was the day she was going to meet The Dark Knight himself, Batman, and his still intimidating secret identity, Bruce Wayne in an informal setting. Raven was confident she was going to make a great impression as a fellow teammate to Robin or whatever label he put on their relationship. She was going to prove that he had nothing to worry about by telling their close friends and family. She had been mentally and emotionally preparing for their arrival since he had asked her to come and everything was in order. She was nervous, but she was ready.

At least she was until they pulled up to Wayne Manor. She had seen flashes of it when she entered Robin's mind as well as photographs in newspapers or online but they didn't live up to what it was like to be in front of it in the flesh. Raven felt out of place immediately, regretting wearing her black jeans paired with her black combat boots and indigo fitted v-neck sweater. Robin insisted that her choice of attire was fine noting that her top accentuated her curves. She chalked his answer up to the fact that it showed a little cleavage though she still thought it was tasteful. She couldn't help but want to show off and try to compete with Starfire for looks. While Raven hated beauty standards and when men compared women's features a small part of her wanted people, mostly Robin, to think she is pretty with a nice body. She wasn't unrealistic and knew she was nowhere near as 'hot' as Starfire and she was sure everyone else knew that too. Even though his family never met Starfire in person they must have seen the articles on their relationship or even the shoots from the many modeling gigs so she had to be prepared.

The sound of the car door opening awakened Raven from her thoughts. She mentally slapped herself for thinking about poor Starfire as competition, Star didn't even know that Robin and herself were sexually involved. Robin cleared his throat and held his hand out to guide her out of the taxi. He held a smile on his face but his emotions only showed anxiety and worry. She took his hand and gave him a reassuring smile as she got out of the car. They retrieved their luggage and made their way up the steps to the impressive front doors. Waiting for Robin to knock or ring a doorbell she took in the beautifully manicured front lawns. She hadn't even noticed entering the tall iron gates and coming down the long driveway. She began to worry and sought reassurance from her companion. Before she could recollect herself an older gentleman had opened the doors and Robin went immediately in for a hug, exchanging greetings.

_This must be Alfred._ She thought. She stepped forward as Robin extended his arm for her to move in and shake hands with the nice older man.

"Ah, Miss Raven. How good it is to finally have the pleasure of meeting you. Master Greyson always speaks so highly of you in his reports to Master Wayne. I have prepared a lovely room for you in the guest wing of the house that I shall be delighted to show you the way to."

"No, Alfred, it's alright, I can take care of that. But I would love it if you made us a pot of your famous English tea. Raven here is a connoisseur of tea and I'm sure she will be impressed." Robin winked at her and she gave a light smirk as she turned back to Alfred.

"Thank you Alfred. I appreciate it. It is a huge honor to meet someone so close to good ol' Boy Wonder here." She lightly laughed and followed them inside where her breath hitched at the beauty of the interior. The grand foyer was immaculate with marble floors and a double cascading staircase that led to what she assumed was the living corridors of the inhabitants. She was too busy taking in the wonderfully kept architecture that she hadn't noticed Robin lugging their suitcases up the stairs laughing gently at her agape mouth.

"Yeah, everyone usually reacts the same way." She heard Robin call from the top of the stairs. She closed her mouth and grabbed the remaining luggage and followed him up.

"Robin, I know you said the manor was huge but this is downright enormous and luxurious. I feel so out of place, I don't belong here." Raven began to ramble as her breaths became shorter.

"Raven. RAVEN. Relax. You belong here just as much as anyone else. I'm sorry I downplayed it. I'm just so used to this being just 'home' that I guess I didn't think anyone would feel out of place." He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably as he placed his hand on Raven's shoulder. He brought the other hand to her remaining shoulder and locked eyes. "Now listen. You'll be fine. We've got a week and a half to settle in and then the ball. Til then it'll be mostly just us and Al. Jason will probably stay holed up in his room or in the training room and you don't need to go to either of those places. In the meantime you may be summoned by the bat for some light work but I'll be there too. Plus that's just business stuff, you're great at that. Just breathe, you'll be fine."

Raven sighed and smiled up at him. "Thank you. I guess this will be like a mini vacation for us. Well as much as it can be with Gotham being pretty crime ridden."

"No, don't worry about being on call for Gotham crime alerts. Batman has that covered. You're not used to Gotham criminals. They won't hesitate to kill and they are ruthless." Raven opened her mouth to retort but was abruptly cut off by Robin. "And before you monologue about your strength and that you can hold your own. Which I know you can and consistently do in JUMP CITY. Jump is not Gotham. I don't want to risk you getting hurt so please just listen to me. I'm not even going to patrol. Not unless Batman really needs my help. But that's doubtful and I've had experience here. So please Raven."

"Ok." Was all Raven said. It wasn't much but she knew that to Robin it meant that she trusts his judgement and she'll hold true. He leaned in and kissed her forehead.

"Thank you. Now let's get you settled in shall we?" He picked up the luggage and began down the hall.

He opened the door to a rather generous size bedroom. To the right was another door leading to the adjoining bathroom and a second to a large closet. On the left was a queen size bed perfectly made with quality linens. A large bay window was on the wall opposite the main door looking out onto the large grounds on the west wing of the property. It was strange for Raven, nothing like she was used to but it seemed cozy. She could see Robin spending his childhood here. Robin had begun setting her things on the floor and bed. She gave him a quizzical look.

"I know you're fast but there's no way you already brought your things in and put them away. Also, your taste is rather simple for being a childhood bedroom. Did Batman redecorate when you left or something." Raven chuckled lightly before noticing the awkward silence coming from her partner.

"Uhh, Rae... I told you we're trying to keep our thing under wraps. Meaning we can't be sharing a room. Friends of opposite genders don't do that sort of thing. So no, this isn't my old room. These are the guest bedrooms. Just as nice. I'm actually just down the hall but to the left."

"Oh..right. I just thought that since it's basically just us then no one will notice. Not to mention I can teleport. I'm sorry I assumed. I've got it from here." Raven couldn't deny that what he had said had hurt. She felt foolish for thinking he'd risk exposing his dirty secret to his family.

"Raven, I am sorry. Maybe I can think of a way to sneak you in one of these nights. But we are living with THE Batman and another Robin. Plus Alfred is pretty observant. We're bound to get caught if it's frequent. Eventually it won't be a problem, til then let's just go back to when things were simpler and easy. You're still my best friend. I'll come get you when dinner is ready. Alfred makes a killer lasagna and he'll have his tea done by then too."

She turned her back to him and opened her suitcase.

"Oh, and Rae," she looked over her shoulder at him. He was halfway out the door and wore a look of hesitation, "You may want to change into something a little nicer. Dinner is different around her and I'll be wearing a dress shirt, tie, and some slacks. I probably should have mentioned that before we left, if you don't have anything don't worry, ok? See you in a bit" He hurried out the door before I could throw something at him.

Raven began unpacking her things as she also began to plot. Robin had pissed her off and she was going to make him pay. She was thankful she agreed to go shopping with Star awhile back because they had found a few formal evening dresses as well as one 'suited for the elegant balls' as Star had said. Back then she was certain she was never going to be invited to one but Starfire hadn't let up and bought it for her. Raven had packed that along with her to bring out for the annual Wayne Christmas Ball. Tonight, however, she pulled out her long sleeve velvet wrap dress. It was sexy and chic. Low neckline to completely daze any straight male but not low enough to be considered inappropriate. The tie cinched her waist in and the dress stopped mid thigh and it would be paired with her thigh high boots that showcase her long toned legs. She placed her outfit in the closet and resumed putting the remaining items away. She figured she'd have a little time to meditate and then begin getting ready for her revenge. Robin would be begging her to spend the night in secrecy with him. She chuckled to herself and fell into her trance with a smirk on her face.

Oh how her emotions would toy with this plan getting into detail of all the little things she would do to further the reaction from Robin. This was going to be _fun_ and she honestly couldn't wait.


	5. Chapter 5

_ 2 years ago (from present) _

_ Wayne Manor _

**Raven POV**

She had woken from her meditation with a little over an hour to prepare for dinner. She was going to look amazing and she knew it. She wasn't going to go all out as she was saving that for the grand finale at the Christmas Ball. But tonight was sure going to take her average look to the next level and maybe beyond.

It may have been severely frustrating for her but she finally perfected her hair. Very loose curls with the majority parted to one side held back by hidden pins giving her an almost retro vibe. It was worth the time spent, unfortunately she had only 20 minutes left before Robin was going to eat his heart out. She quickly dusted on makeup, really only adding light shadow and mascara to enhance her amethyst eyes. She hadn't the need for foundation, or so the various makeup counter ladies had told her. Every time she'd gone to one with Starfire they'd comment how flawless her skin was and told her not to mess with it by putting unnecessary products on. Raven had been grateful for that assessment as she was sure she wouldn't be able to find fair enough makeup with grey undertones.

She went to her closet and pulled out the dress. She didn't love much material items but the few fancier items she brought along with her she truly did love. This dress reminded her of her friendship with Starfire and how much Star wanted her to feel beautiful and this dress was the first one where she believed it was true. She slipped the dress on and slid her legs into the boots as she headed toward the mirror to admire herself.

Fixing a few stray hairs she roamed over her face and darted to her dresser where she had packed an almost sheer gloss. Just as she finished applying it there was a knock on her door. She took one last look in the mirror.

_Damn, I look great. I can't wait for Robin to see me._ For wanting this to be revenge she felt so giddy and genuinely hoped he liked it. Now was the moment of truth.

She opened the door to find a well dressed Alred in the doorway, disappointment obvious on her face.

"Ah, good evening Miss Raven. I have come to call on you for dinner. My apologies for Master Greyson, Bruce required his assistance in the cave and I'm afraid it held him up longer than either of us had expected. However, dinner is served and it would be a shame to waste it and let it get cold. So please do me the honor of allowing me to escort you to the kitchen." He backed away from the door and extended his arm to allow her to walk by.

"Thank you Alfred. I'll be happy to have your company for dinner. I am definitely too hungry to wait for Robin to eat anyhow." She gave a small laugh but sadness still sat in her eyes.

It must not have gotten by Alfred as he added, "You do look positively stunning Miss Raven. You sure put the rest of us to shame." He began down the hall as she followed by his side.

"Thank you Alfred. I've never been to a formal style dinner so I did my best." She said while a light blush crept up her face. "And may I add how lovely this home is. I admire the original artwork by Monet, they're treated so beautifully here and not in a way to boast wealth. Bruce must have a great appreciation for the finer arts."

"Thank you. Although Bruce does indeed enjoy some classic pieces but I must say that I've had a few additions I insisted, Monet being one of them. You like classic arts?"

"Fascinating. You do have a good eye for art then, Alfred. I enjoy art in general, however I do have a preference to impressionist artworks and almost anything before modernism. There are few pieces that I admire but I do have an appreciation for balance between control and expression." Raven had begun smiling a little. Alfred had successfully made her forget about Robin as they descended the stairs. This light conversation gave them an opportunity to bond as it seems that Alfred doesn't get to discuss art much with anyone.

"Intriguing Miss Raven. Have you studied arts? Or is this just a passion for you?"

"A little of both. I took a few courses at the community college but I do occasionally drop by different museums. It's a good place to go to get out of the tower where I can use my brain to analyze art while it is expected for all of the patrons to be silent. How can I go wrong?" They both began laughing as they entered the kitchen.

Again she was astonished by the pristine kitchen. All white cabinets and a white marble countertop. There was a huge stove and double oven. Stainless steel appliances and a large island that had an extended surface with a row of bar stools underneath. The delicious smell then hit her. She looked over to the table to see a large platter of homemade lasagna. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a figure leaning on the door frame entirely immersed in his phone, she decided to ignore the person until he either introduced himself or showed some more manners.

Alfred interrupted her observations as he removed the tea kettle from the stovetop. "Thank you for indulging me with talks about artwork and your interests. You truly are a fascinating young woman. Please come sit and I'll bring the tea right over." He searched for a second for presumably a missing ingredient before he excused himself. But before he left the room he turned to her once more. "Excuse me, where are my manners? Miss Raven, this is Master Jason Todd. Now if you'll excuse me again."

This time as she looked over her was intently staring at her making direct eye contact. She felt fairly uncomfortable at first until she realized that he had ignored her coming in until this point. She straightened up and flipped her hair over her shoulder as she walked over to him. She didn't miss him obviously traveling his eyes down her body. She fought the blush that wanted to pop up. She stopped in front of him and stuck out her hand. He looked shocked and perplexed for a moment before he took her hand in his.

"Raven, pleasure to meet you." She made sure to make constant eye contact to show him he wasn't getting anything past her. She softened for a mere second as she admired his dark mysterious eyes that seemed to have a subtle green pulse behind them. She found them admittedly attractive and intriguing. She felt his hand tighten around hers. Along with the added pressure she felt the slight roughness of his hands in contrast to her soft and smooth ones.

"Jason Todd. Now Dick never told me he lived with two unbelievably attractive women. How is that fair?" The smirk he wore grew as her eyes widened at the comment. His eyes roamed over her body again notably stopping at her chest a few seconds longer and again as he reached her hips.

She abruptly released his hand and walked away toward the table. "Robin never told me his brother was an inappropriate sleaze."

"First off, not my brother. Secondly you wound me madam. Can't I give you a compliment without having my head chopped off. I wasn't playing about the unbelievably attractive part. I must admit though Dick was probably only talking about you when he mentioned the one. It really isn't fair to the poor alien."

This time she couldn't hide the blush rising to her cheeks. She knew he was just messing with her but still the thought that somebody else could find her attractive and more so than Starfire had her break her collected front. She realized this and was about to retort when Alfred had come back in with a jar of what looked homemade honey. _Did they have their own personal bee hive?I_

"Here we are, Miss Raven. Please do sit down. You as well Master Todd. Normally we would use the formal dining room, however seeing as though it is just us we may as well use the family table here. You may sit where you like. I've set the table in the event that Master Wayne or Master Greyson do show up." Alfred said while carrying the tea over to the table and setting it alongside the lasagna. Raven waited until someone made a move. Jason regained his serious demeanor and stalked toward the end of the table on the right side. Alfred extended his arm signifying that it was now her turn.

She didn't think it would be such a difficult decision but she weighed the pros and cons quickly in her head of each seat option before going against her better judgement and sitting across from Jason. He looked up at her and first glared then as Alfred took he seat at the head of the table between the two she caught a small smirk. She didn't know why but she felt yet another blush fighting its way to her face.

"Lovely, please help yourself to as much as you'd like. Serves the others their punishment for putting work before nutrition." Alfred let out a warm laugh as he began to pour his tea into Raven's awaiting cup. Jason wasted no time snatching the utensils and cut a large portion for himself.

"Don't mind me," he said looking up at her through his dark lashes another smirk crossing his handsome features. "I can finish off your remaining portion since you probably won't eat much anyway."

His comment had infuriated Raven and she yanked the spatula out of his hand and placed a portion equal to that of Jason's onto her plate. She then placed the utensils back into the dish, picked up her fork, and began to dig in while never breaking eye contact with the smug jerk. His eyes had gone wide with surprise as did Alfred's.

"Fuck, ok then. I like a woman that can eat." Alfred and Jason shared a hearty laugh. Raven began to soften again. Jason looked so calm when he laughed. His eyes squinted with joy where that green pulse from earlier seemed to recede. He actually smiled showing almost perfect teeth. He looked young, carefree, and hot. _Did I just say he was hot? I'm secretly dating his brother. I can't think another man is hot, especially because it's his brother._ She felt ashamed at her reaction and put her fork down solemnly lost in thought.

"Umm.. Earth to Raven. You ok there? You just went from cool as fuck to stormy in seconds. Not that I give two fucks about a stranger in my house but killin the dinner vibe."

"Master Jason, I insist you watch your tongue especially with a lady present. Furthermore, I will not tolerate such abrasive behaviour toward a guest. I must admit though that your rather sudden change in mood has me concered. Is there something wrong with the food or tea? I'd be more than willing to make something else for you."

"Oh no Alfred. That won't be necessary. Everything is delicious. I was just trying to remember the last time I ate something homemade in some place as lovely as your home. My mind may have traveled back too far to my childhood that was definitely a unique upbringing. I'm sorry for concerning you and I suppose for killing the vibe." She looked down and heard the clank of a fork being dropped on the china. She looked up to see both men staring at her, the younger of the two with more intensity.

"Yeah, my upbringing was shit too. Until B took me in. He got me fucked up too but now's not the time for that. Let forget about our past for the time being and just enjoy this fucking amazing lasagna." He ended his statement with a soft smile in her direction.

Raven couldn't help but send a smirk his way. "I believe you were told to watch your language in a lady's presence. I'm going to hold you to it too. Don't want vulgarity ruining this, as you said, amazing lasagna."

"Ok princess," he leaned onto the table a little more, eyes staring deliberately into her own, "I'll watch the cussing if you don't go all gloom and doom on us. I've already had a lot of that in my life and I'm not about to put up with that shit again."

"Looks like you're already failing at the no cussing." He leaned back in his seat and displayed his famous smirk again.

"Alright, we're on now. I like challenges." With that he winked at her. Raven swallowed hard.

From that point onward the trio had discussed many topics All free from Jason's incessant use of foul language and from the timid side of Raven's emotions. They discussed their favorite literature:

"Now I'm not the biggest fan of the teen genre but I'm just saying that the Hunger Games series has a very good outlook on the possibilities of genetic modification and the criticism of excess and commentary on the income gap we have." Jason said while scooping a second helping of lasagna onto his plate. Raven brought the tea cup down from her lips.

"I understand that, but I'm sorry Harry Potter is entirely better. It's more imaginative and speaks on a variety of issues. It also appeals to those that feel like they might not belong. The struggles Harry face in the series have real life comparisons but let young minds view it in a different way. I'm not saying the series is bad but honestly I wasn't connecting to the characters until the second book and not even Katniss until MockingJay. With Harry Potter it's almost instantly we sympathize with him. You can't change my mind on this."

"Fair enough. Anything is better than Twilight. We all can agree on that."

"Indeed." Alfred inputted. The other two snapped their head with a look of surprise at his comment. "I read my fair share too. I also agree with Miss Raven." Jason scowled at her as she sat back triumphantly.

An hour later the conversation had moved to criminal politics.

"Master Todd, Bruce has been over this with you a multitude of times."

"I'm just saying that I think it's pointless to lock up these criminals, especially the really dangerous ones that we know are going to escape."

"While to an extent I agree with Jason. What I don't have an answer for is what we are going to do with them when we catch them. What do you suggest we do?" This discussion had been the focal point for the past twenty minutes and as it progressed it was becoming more heated.

"I don't know! How about we kill them like they do daily to innocent people! How about we put the fear of God into them so nobody will ever want to commit a crime again. This world would be so much better without them alive. Nobody would miss them."

"They have families too. And if we kill them then we're no better. Who gets to decide on who dies. What crimes warrant the ultimate punishment? "

"Who cares who officially decides. If they kill they get killed. If they rape or sell people in any way they get killed. And for all other crimes I say we scare them to death. Like I said put the fear of God into them. Then they'll never want to do anything bad again."

Silence fell on the table until Raven readjusted herself in her seat. "I thought you would have caught the commentary on the use of fear tactics from the Hunger Games series too."

"Fuck."

"Language!" Alfred and Raven had said in unison. They looked at each other until they both had begun laughing.

Jason shook his head as he smiled a little. Jason then looked down at his plate reflecting on her statement. "You've got me there sunshine. But I mean we have to change it up, the system we have now is not working clearly."

"Robin has always told us that we need to make changes by the book. Changes to the criminal law policies have to adhere to rules that bind what we can do to criminals. I mean they are still people. People can change for the better if you have enough hope and proper resources."

"That's what Robin said huh?"

"If it was intelligent then absolutely but coming from Raven I'm sure it was. So yes I take full credit." The Boy Wonder himself had just walked in. Still typing something on his phone.

Raven immediately fixed her dress and casually ran her fingers through her hair to save a shred of her attempt to impress Robin. As she straightened her dress out she glanced up to see Jason giving her a puzzling look.

Alfred broke the momentary silence. "Welcome Master Greyson. I presume Master Wayne is still diligently working. Please help yourself to what is left over. You may need to heat it up again, as it has been sitting out for some time as we were having wonderful conversations. I'll bring something down to Master Wayne." He stood up from his chair and cleared their plates. Robin began to place the remaining lasagna onto a plate that he then placed in the microwave. "Excuse me, Miss Raven and Master Todd, it has been such a lovely evening with you. If I am unable to see you before you're off to bed, have a splendid night and I shall see you in the morning for breakfast."

"Thank you." They had both said at the same time. They spared each other a glance and smiled. Alfred smiled at the two and pulled something from the refrigerator as he left for the cave.

Robin brought his now warmed up lasagna to the table and sat next to Raven. She shuffled awkwardly to make sure she looked good at all times. She then realized that he actually hadn't looked at her at all since he came in. She slumped a little and drank the rest of her tea. She felt as though she was being watched again so she looked up to meet the eyes once more of Jason. His face holding a more stern look. Much less relaxed as the rest of dinner had gone. She watched as Jason's eyes darted between the two before finally deciding on saying something.

"Why do you still call Dickhead here Robin? I mean you clearly know who he is. Have you not been granted that great honor and privilege yet?" He glared darkly at Robin.

"It's a force of habit. Not to mention that no, technically he hasn't officially given me permission to refer to him by his real name. Furthermore I suppose it is best that I don't get used to calling him by his real name because back at the tower we call each other by our hero names."

"Oh, so you're special and get exclusive privilege." Jason scowled into his glass of water.

"No, we all know each other's secret identities or real names. Technically Robin is the only one that has any real weight to having a secret identity. The rest of us are either aliens or too recognizable to hide in public. We just refrain from using them in the event that someone breaks in and listens in or we get too used to it and use it in our public outings."

"Is that what Dick said to you? Because-"

"Raven, I think it'll be fine to call me Richard or Dick, or honestly whatever. I'm home here and it is kinda weird to be called three different names while here. So, I officially give you permission." He had been glaring at Jason and didn't even address her directly. Raven was at a loss for words. Had he just decided to change his rules for her sake or was it because of the latter half of what Jason was going to say. She turned to Richard to see that he was entirely engrossed in his phone and his food.

She had such a nice time at dinner even though it was spent with the wrong people. She had surprisingly enjoyed the company of the butler and the temperamental brother and Robin here had ruined it all. Her mood turned sour as she stood from the table.

"Will do, _Dick_." With that she stormed out of the kitchen without a glance back.

Had she looked back she wouldn't have missed the shocked reaction of the Boy Wonder and the way his eyes traveled over her body taking in the way the material clung to her body and how his eyes lingered on her ass. She also would have seen the way that Jason's eyes followed the same path.


	6. Chapter 6

_ 2 years ago (from present) at Wayne Manor _

**Raven's POV:**

Raven had awakened still in her dress from the previous night. She groggily sat up and looked in the mirror to discover her light makeup was smeared down her eyes. She thought of the moments leading up to her exhaustion and eventual passing out without changing, which is something she never did. She remembered Robin's dismissal of her and how upset she was. She had stormed out of the kitchen and ran to her room where tears began to freely flow from her eyes. She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to keep this whole charade up, if her relationship with Robin was even real to begin with.

Raven wiped her face clean of the smudged makeup and changed into a simple workout outfit. Looking at the clock it was still fairly early being 5AM, an hour before she normally would get up. She had pent up frustration she needed to take care of before she ran into anyone. She had gotten a bit better controlling her emotions but she still needed a healthy form of physical release. She threw on a black sports bra and a matching pair of capri workout leggings. She finished lacing up her shoes and silently made her way to the training room.

The manor was eerily quiet and seemed so empty even when she knew at least three others were inside. She pushed open the door to the training room and found it to be very well equipped. What else was she expecting from a billionaire superhero though. Various weights of punching bags lined a portion of the wall followed by three treadmills ranging in ability of elevation. There was a set of gymnasts rings and bars, probably a request from Robin. Weights lined the other wall and a large pad sat in the middle.

Raven wasn't much for physical training. She knew it was important to keep the body strong but she relied mostly on her powers which usually never faltered. She had become lax until Robin started personally training her, which she didn't mind. With the thought of Robin invading her mind now, she began with the punching bags.

After about an hour between the punching bags and weights she began to jog on the treadmill. She found the access panel to the speakers and turned the volume of her workout music so it almost drowned out any other noise.

Fifteen minutes into jogging she sensed another presence. Not wanting to engage in conversation she kept her focus on running. She still wasn't in the mood to talk to Robin whom she thought was there. The sudden beating on the punching bag startled her though and she looked back to see an angry looking Jason.

He was wearing a black compression shirt that outlined his well formed muscles and dark grey joggers. His hair was still disheveled from sleep but was tousled in such an attractive way. His shirt showcased all of his muscles flexing every time he made contact with the bag and Raven couldn't take her eyes off of the sculpted man. She felt her face warm up from the blush that crept to the surface. She turned away and felt guilty for thinking such thoughts about another man, much less her sort of boyfriend's brother.

She continued her jog but increased her pace along with the increasing intensity of the punches Jason was landing on the defenseless bag. She glanced back again to see him adding various kicks to his workout. He may have been more built than Robin but he was almost just as swift. There was a power behind each move that she hadn't seen before. Robin focused on where he struck and often was so quick he could land double the amount of attacks but none with the force that Jason had. It was fascinating and worrisome. Using her empathy she searched his emotions. She sensed frustration, anger, and sadness. She looked at his face and saw how tense he was and how his eyes were almost burrowing as deep as his punches were into the bag.

Raven acted instinctively and encased the bag in her magic and moved it out of his way as he came at it with a roundhouse kick. Expecting the bag to still be there he put all of his force into the kick as he had been doing. When his foot didn't make contact with the bag it spun him around and he slipped and fell to the ground. He looked confused as he slowly began to get back up. He turned back to the bag to see it swing down back into place.

Raven let out a light giggle and abruptly covered her mouth albeit too late as Jason had heard it and was now glaring at her.

"Playing tricks now princess?" Jason asked, still staring at her.

Raven stammered not knowing what to say, she had acted on impulse and didn't really know why she played with Jason. "Come on now, sunshine wants to play, we can play." Jason began to stalk towards her never breaking eye contact.

Raven stepped off the treadmill and backed away from Jason. "Look Jason, I wasn't thinking. You were just so tense and looked like - "

"Like I needed to fall on my ass. Not buying it. Wouldn't be so fun if you fell on your ass. I can arrange that though." He was a few steps from her. But she realized he had guided her toward the middle of the mat.

"Jason, I'm not trying to start anything. It was a mistake. I'm sorry. " She summoned her powers to her hands and took a defensive position.

"Nuh uh Rae, no powers. Come on just a little sparring session. You and me. Just combat no magic. I'm sure you and Dickhead have done this hundreds of times. You should be pretty good. Well, depending on how good of a learner you are." He kept a small distance before her and crouched a little to an offensive position.

Raven knew she shouldn't but he was being arrogant and she hates arrogance. She called her powers back to her and mirrored his pose. "You're on. Rules first: no breaking body parts, and all forms of surrender are ok."

"I see, options for you to give up. C'mon sunshine I'm sure you're better than that."

Raven struck first and quickly made contact with the right side of his jaw. She felt pain from the punch radiate up her arm. He was much sturdier than punching Gar or Robin. His eyes went wide obviously not expecting it. Raven smirked but that was a mistake because the next thing she knew she was on the ground with Jason standing above her. She stood back up and kicked in his direction. He swiftly knocked her leg away and jabbed her face. She was angry now.

The duo exchanged blow after blow to one another, neither relenting. Until finally Raven was pinned under the large form of Jason. " Give up, sunshine. I'm on top, as it should be." He gave a sly wink and in the moment Raven wrapped her leg around his torso and flipped him so that he was now pinned under her. She dealt a punch to his face that left him dazed for a second.

"I don't just give up. I win." Jason locked eyes with her again and he laid there panting.

"Very nice. The view that is. I could get used to it." His smug smirk annoyed her. How dare he. Just as she was about to retort, the boy wonder strolled in.

"What is going on." He was clearly pissed from the position he found them in.

"Sunshine here, was..uh.. showing me some moves." He sent a wink in Dick's direction. His face became red with rage.

Raven sent another punch to Jason's face and got off of him. "What he means is that I was beating him. That's all. Not that it's any of your business Dick." She emphasized his name and the double meaning it held.

"It is my business, you're my...my teammate. I'm responsible for you." Raven wondered what word he had almost used instead.

"Whatever, I'm done with this anyway." Both boys watched as she walked out of the room.

Raven stopped briefly outside when she heard Jason's voice. "Fuck, that's one hell of a woman." He added a gentle laugh that was cut off by a punch from Robin. Raven turned around and opened the door slightly to see what happened. Both men were throwing punches at one another and landing hard blows. The force of one of Jason's punches sent Robin flying back. She was shocked because she didn't remember his punches hurting all that much. He had held his punches so he wouldn't actually hurt her.

She wanted to be a little offended that he thought she couldn't handle his full force but she couldn't find a logical reason for her to be. His sheer weight alone against hers would be enough to crush her. Though she is powerful, he could have and would have caused serious damage had he used all of his strength. He didn't let her win either and she appreciated that. It was a solid fight and she surprisingly enjoyed it.

Her opinion of Jason was starting to change for the better. There's more to him than she initially thought and she hated to admit that she wanted to learn more about the rugged mysterious man. Hell if one of the bats weren't going to pay attention to her she would focus elsewhere.


	7. Chapter 7

_ 2 years ago (from present) Wayne Manor _

**Jason POV**

Jason felt like utter shit. Dick had punched the crap out of him for what seemed like no reason. One moment he's watching the sway of Raven's hips as she walked out of the room then next he saw stars. Jason wasn't going down without a fight and he laid some good ones on him. Dick ended up worse off. Jason had gone to his room after Dick stormed out after his beating, presumably to the bat cave. He looked at himself in the mirror. Bruises began to form and his lip was split open. Blood splattered his clothing and he groaned from the soreness in his muscles.

Jason stripped off his shirt and flopped on his bed and soon he was out. He woke up to the sound of soft knocking on his door. He let out an exasperated sigh. He just wanted some fucking peace and quiet, he could feel the pit ebbing its way in at his fatigued state.

"What?" Jason shouted, still sprawled on his bed.

"It's Raven, I saw what happened in the training room and saw blood trailed to your room. Figured I check on you to make sure Robin didn't leave you too busted up." Her monotone voice seeped into the room. Jason couldn't explain why but he felt a subtle excitement that she had come to his room. He reluctantly got up and opened the door.

Raven's usually stoic face slipped up and showed one of concern and shock for a second before she put the mask back up. "You look like shit."

"You must have puked when you saw Dickhead then. I fucked him up pretty bad."

"I..uh..didn't check on him yet. He was in the wrong and that first hit was a total suckerpunch. May I come in?"

Jason couldn't help but smirk at the fact that this woman had come to an almost stranger before she checked on her leader, and here she was asking to come into his room. Part of him wished it was under different pretenses.

"Right this way m'lady." He opened the door all the way and let her enter. He shut the door behind her and leaned against it as she wandered to the middle of his room. "Is there a reason you wanted to come in or did you just want to see where the best ex hero sleeps?"

Raven turned toward him and perhaps just realized he was shirtless as her eyes traveled down his body and a blush began to rise to her cheeks when her gaze met his. His smirk grew as he started walking toward her. Just before he was right in front of her she put up a shield. "Lay on the bed at the edge."

Jason was taken aback. Sure he was sexually attracted to the titan but they hardly knew each other and he was pretty sure there was a certain etiquette about sleeping with a fellow superhero. He wasn't complaining though. Raven looked over as the gears were turning in his head.

"I'm going to heal you. Nothing else, so don't get any ideas or make any remarks or I will walk away."

"Heal me? How are you going to do that? I thought you just could levitate things and teleport and do that soul detachment stuff."

Raven crossed her arms, "Do you want me to heal you or not. It'll take a lot longer without me."

Jason skeptically walked past her and laid as instructed. Raven approached him and rested a hand on his head and one on his chest. He tensed for a bit from the cool touch of her hands against his burning skin. A blue glow encased them and seeped into his body. He immediately found relief and looked down to see some of the cuts and bruises slowly disappearing. He began to feel very sleepy and didn't notice when he actually fell asleep. He calmly woke up to see Raven floating in midair meditating. He looked at the clock to see that two hours had passed. He felt so refreshed and looked down to see his body free from every cut and bruise, even ones he got before the fight. He rushed to the bathroom to see his face clear of any marks. He had so much energy too.

It must have been one hell of a nap because he didn't remember any part of his nightma- he realized that he didn't have a nightmare this time. For the first time in years he wasn't plagued with his inner demons when he shut his eyes. He ran back into his room to see Raven still floating there. He wanted to hug her, she had no idea the impact her help had on him. He stopped himself though. He thought about all the wounds that marred his body and how they were all gone as if they hadn't existed. She must have used a lot of energy to do that. He turned away feeling guilty for using her like that.

"I offered to do it. You shouldn't feel guilty." Jason spun around to see Raven now standing in front of him. "I figured I was already healing you, might as well have done 100% of the job."

"What toll does that take on you though?" Jason took a step closer now almost face to face , well more like chest to face.

"Excuse me?" Raven looked puzzled at his question. Was this something she wasn't often asked after healing somebody?

"I want to know how it works. What does it cost you to help me."

"It doesn't matter Jason."

"It does to me. You shouldn't exhaust yourself to fix something you didn't cause."

"But in a way I did cause it. I just wanted to make things better. I'm used to doing this for my team. It's nothing." She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

"What do you mean you caused it? Dick just had a stick up his ass or something that's not-"

"Nevermind that. Just forget about it."

"Thank you." He looked down at her and searched her beautiful amethyst eyes.

"Um..no problem." She broke the contact and looked to the side, wrapping her arms around herself. Fuck, why was that attractive. Jason usually didn't swoon over anybody this easily. He didn't think the goth girl on his adoptive brother's team was his type anyhow, but there was something about her.

Jason was about to say something but before he could Raven made her way over to the door. "I'm going to go finish meditating in my room. I...uh...hope you're feeling better." With that she left Jason standing in the middle of his room trying to figure what to do next.

He grabbed another shirt and headed to the kitchen. When he needed time to think he always cooked. He loved cooking and he was pretty good at it. It enabled him to focus on a mundane task and let his brain get to work. He made it to the kitchen and began to pull out a large assortment of ingredients and utensils. He wanted to try out a new recipe he found for stir fry and what better time than now. Just as he was about to finish chopping the vegetables he had, he felt a presence watching him from behind.

Without turning around Jason addressed the presence, "What do you want Dick? Didn't you have enough ass kicking today?"

"You look relaxed, unlike the usual pole up your ass face you walk around with every day."

"Oh yeah, Sunshine patched me up. You got a helpful one there. Maybe you shouldn't have done whatever it was you did to piss her off because you could've been healed by now." Jason finally turned around to see Dick standing in the doorway with his arms crossed and a pissed off face. Bruises from their fight littered his face and arms and he still had blood dried near the sloppily patched up wounds he was left with. He looked absolutely fucked up and it left Jason mostly proud, but a little guilty...but mostly proud.

"Pressuring strangers to heal you up now? Leave Raven alone!"

"Dude, calm the fuck down." Jason put down his knife and took a step toward Dick.

"We're doing you a favor letting you hide here while we take care of your Goddamn problem-"

"Joker is everyone's fucking problem! And last time I checked Bruce said this was my fucking home too. So get the fuck off your high horse Dickhead because there's obviously an underlying problem you've got with me and I have no fucking clue what it is!"

Robin stood there for a moment and glared. He was really starting to piss Jason off. Jason was a second away from giving Dick round two of whoopass when he saw Dick sigh and sit down at the kitchen table. Jason was momentarily shocked, Dick almost never steps down from an almost challenge.

"Look Jason,...I'm sorry. I should know that the Joker isn't just your problem. I'm just frustrated about a lot of things that you happen to be a part of."

"Dickhead, you've been here for two fucking days. What the hell could I have done to piss you off this much. Usually I don't give a shit but you're parading around like you own the place is really starting to shorten my fuse."

"I need you to leave Raven alone." Jason began to open his mouth but Dick beat him to it, effectively cutting him off. "I don't know what you've done so far or what you plan on doing. But I know you Jay. I saw the way you looked at her."

"You better stop right there. I don't even know Raven all too well but it sounds to me like you're trying to dictate her lovelife. She is her own fucking woman and she can talk to me if she wants, she can come to my room whenever she pleases, and she can fucking do so without your dumbass opinion or permission. You're lucky she isn't in here or I'm sure she'd have thrown you through the roof."

Robin stood up aggressively and placed his fists on the table, his knuckles turning white. "You're right she can do whatever the hell she wants but not with you!"

"Oh so this is a personal thing. Why? Did you want her all to yourself?" Robin looked up shocked for a moment. "I was trained under the bat too Dickhead. I can see the looks she's given you and the effort she is putting in. You think you're hiding shit from us? You're fucking crazy then!"

"Raven and I aren't in a relationship-"

"But you've fucked her though right? Nobody goes around throwing out the shit you're spewing unless there's history there. Fuck, you did the same for Kori when Roy was trying to flirt with her. Never seen it otherwise."

Jason took a few more steps forward and continued, "You broke up with Kori. Who else is left but Raven for you to let out some stress? She's hot and smart and keeps a lot to herself. Right up your alley isn't it?"

"Why the hell are you interrogating me? I told you we are not dating. I'm protective of her because yes, we have had some sexual interaction. We're not officially dating or anything like that. I'm trying to keep her safe. Raven is not a normal woman. She only trusts very little but she is probably the most special of them all. She is selfless, brave, and one of the most powerful heroes that I have ever seen. I don't want her with you because she is too good for you." Robin was looking Jason directly in the eye.

Jason felt the pit raging inside him. He thought about Dicks words. Jason hadn't totally chosen to be this way. He was thrust into this life because of the Joker...but then again he made mistakes, a lot of them. He has killed, many times. He has slept with countless women. Maybe Dick was right...but he didn't approach Raven this whole time. None of their encounters were due to him. He isn't at fault here.

Jason turned around and sat on one of the barstools to the island in the kitchen. "Look Dick. I can honestly tell you I haven't gone out of my way to 'win her heart' or some shit. It's been completely accidental or on her behalf. I'm telling you that I'm not seeking some fuckbuddy for my stay here. I wouldn't do that to her. I don't really know her but I've seen what she is capable of and I've heard lots of talk about her, she doesn't deserve that reckless kind of relationship. Do you get what I'm trying to say?:

"For the last time Raven and I are not dating. We are two adults that have come together for comfort. Neither of us expect anything from the other, but we both respect each other and appreciate the comfort we give each other."

"Then why is she here? Because I'm not too sure that she sees this thing you've got in the same way."

Dick put his head in his hands and ran then through his hair a few times before he looked up again. "Bruce needs her. Well someone like her. He's found some mystical markings at some of the warehouses we busted that were leading to the Joker. He wants her to take a look at them. He knew I was coming and he figured it'd be efficient to bring her too."

"You were fine bringing her into this?"

"No, of course not. But this is important and I know she will be able to help."

"Does she know?"

"No...I thought it would be easier to convince her once she is already here. Besides..." Dick refused to make eye contact with Jason, "...I knew she would do whatever I ask of her."

Jason was pissed. He got up and threw the cut vegetables in the trash. And walked toward the door. There was tremendous tension between the two.

Jason stopped before the door and turned his head toward Dick. " and you think you're good enough huh?" Jason stormed back toward his room leaving Dick to wallow in whatever pity he had reserved for himself. How dare he. How dare Dick lecture him about his worthiness. He hadn't even tried to go after Raven but was getting accused of it anyway. All the while Dick here has been fucking her into thinking she has a chance with him. He invited her here in God knows what pretence, and she doesn't even know that she is going to be put in a lot of danger. She doesn't even know that Dick didn't even want to invite her which is what he was sure of how that conversation went. Dick didn't deserve Raven.

Suddenly he got an idea. He knew shit was gonna hit the fan and poor Raven was gonna get the brunt of it. He figured he might as well make her remaining time in wonderland worth something. He strolled over to her room and began knocking.

"Let me show you something." He said as soon as the door had been barely open.

Raven looked perplexed. "Jason, what are you doing here? You're interrupting my meditation."

"Look, Princess. You've meditated plenty. I just wanna show you something. He reached in and grabbed her hand and dragged her out of her room.

"Jason! Let go of me!" She was stumbling behind him trying to keep up. Jason abruptly stopped and looked toward her, frustration evident on her face.

"C'mon, you'll love it. I promise. Nothing special, just something I think you'd enjoy and to say thanks." Raven looked back toward her room and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Fine."

Jason led her down a little further down the hall into a different corridor. He stopped before a large set of oak doors. "Raven of the Teen Titans I present to you the grand library of Wayne Manor." He pushed the doors open to reveal a pristine library full of countless books lining the walls from floor to ceiling. The room was large and had a leather sofa and chairs off to the side and a few desks opposite them against the wall. A large ladder on wheels leaned against the shelves.

Jason looked over to Raven who had walked in with such astonishment and excitement clearly radiating off of her. He walked over to a section of the library toward the back. He jumped on the ladder and climbed up to the fifth shelf. From it pull out a lightly worn book and handed it down to Raven.

"This is where the first editions are. That m'lady is the first edition of Catcher in the Rye."

Raven carefully took the book into her hands and held it as if it was glass that could break at any second. "This is amazing. There's so many books! I could spend forever here. Thank you!" She brought the book to her chest. "But why was this so important now? Not that I don't appreciate it but all I did was patch up a few nicks and bruises."

Jason didn't have the heart to tell her the real reason. That was Dick's job. He wasn't going to be the messenger that got shot.

"Like I said. I don't know what toll it takes on you. Plus it gets me a few brownie points free of expense on my part. Better with me than Alfred." He sent her a famous smirk and laughed a little. Raven tried to hide a small blush as she turned around and sat on the leather sofa and softly opened to the first page.

She looked back up at him and gave him a rare smile. "Thank you again." Not that it was very big but it was there and from what Jason has heard, they hardly ever occur.

"You're welcome Sunshine."

Jason stayed on the ladder a moment longer watching as Raven's eyes scanned down the page. He had to admit she was absolutely stunning. He climbed down and left the enchanting beauty to her reading. He didn't know how he was going to be able to live in the same house as her. He wouldn't want to make things awkward. But fuck she gets him going from just sitting there reading a fucking book. His mood then sombered. He wouldn't try anything because she probably wouldn't go for him. He is after all a criminal. He is a prick sometimes and she wasn't any of that and he knew she could do better. _Maybe Dick was right._

Fuck him. How did he end up here?


	8. Chapter 8

**Raven's POV**

Raven gave her best shot at keeping herself entertained in the library, but she had spent the past two days here, in the same spot, and with the same book. This wasn’t like her, she would normally take a single day for a book, and that was for books of five-hundred pages and more. Her mind kept wandering to where Robin was and who he was fighting. Back at the tower she had known every detail of almost every mission as she was second in charge. She felt like Beast Boy, sitting here clueless. Raven glanced back down at her book to see that she hadn’t advanced more than a page. Frustration hit her hard and she couldnt fucking take it.

With her mind made up, Raven threw her book on the side table and headed out down the hall. She just needed to do something, find some bad guy to stop, or even get information for an open case. Raven phased through the floors and walls of the mansion to find what she was looking for. 

The Batcave. She had to admit that the large underground space was a little daunting, but it wasn’t totally unfamiliar. She had seen a glimpse of it as she had sorted through Robin’s mind previously. That is also how she learned Batman’s true identity and why she had to get a strict lecture from Robin about privacy and trust. Raven was unaware if Robin had disclosed her insider knowledge but she figured that she’ll cross that bridge when she gets to it. 

The Batcave was laden with the latest technology and gadgets. Cyborg would have a field day in this place and she was sure Beast Boy would fanboy like a crazed child. She however started to feel anxious as she was now officially treading into off-limits territory. She hasn’t technically been shown this part of the mansion, nor was she invited in. She figured that since she was alone and mature enough that nobody would really mind as long as she wasn’t harming or fiddling with things. 

Raven made her way through the cave and walked over to the large computer screen surrounded by smaller monitors and other devices. She wasn’t dumb enough touch any of the mysterious buttons or keys but she did sift through the open files strewn about the desk. The setup and the organized chaos reminded her of their computer system at home and of Robin’s desk in his room. Perhaps, she thought, this was Robin’s doing and Batman was a little more organized than this. That or this is where Robin learned his organizational skills from. The thought made her laugh a little and made her wonder if that was a trait Robin would pass on to his children. 

His children… maybe theirs, she thought. Raven withdrew from the computer absent-mindedly holding a case file as she let her wandering mind take over. 

Raven’s demeanor turned somber as she thought of the possibility or lack of having children. With or without Robin, she wasn’t sure if she was capable. Would she want children? Force them to bear the same burden she has to; keeping Trigon at bay every second of every day. Was she even the mother-type? She was half demon and never really had her own mother that she could use as a guideline. Hell, the only way she could reference her mother’s skills was to use her as a what not to do. Then she began to think of her partner, Robin.

Had he thought about children as a future for him? Would he want them with her? Would he then finally let the world know that they were a couple at that point? 

Raven felt tears begin to well up in her eyes. What was she doing? Sitting here in the Batcave of all places, about ready to break down into tears over her maybe relationship with the son of ever-intimidating Batman. She was thankful to have snapped herself out of her personal pity party as she sensed somebody coming into the Batcave.

She had to figure out what to do next. Should she flee the scene or act normal? What was her excuse for coming in here? She prayed to Azar that it wasn’t the Bat himself and hopefully just Alfred.

Unfortunately for her, it wasn’t either. She wished she had taken the option to flee as Jason walked in looking to be in a rather ill-tempered mood. 

It wasn’t that she didn’t get along with Jason. In fact, she would go as far to say that she had enjoyed his company at some moments. They had spent a few good hours peacefully reading to which was followed by an enlightening discussion about their books. His attitude seemed to soften when he was around her and the green glow in his eyes dissipated when they spent time together. Raven thought that it was due to her empathic abilities that she occasionally let slip into those around her when she was in a good mood. The weird thing though, was that he had been around her less and less and she hadn’t seen him at all today or yesterday evening. It was like he was avoiding her. Like everyone, except Alfred, was avoiding her. 

“What the hell are you doing out of your cage little birdie?” Jason said, breaking her from her thoughts.

“I needed to see if there was anything Robi- I mean Richard wanted me to do to help.”

“Now, was that an order from Traffic Lights himself, or did you just decide to go snooping on your own?” He advanced toward her with that arrogant smirk of his.

“I am not snooping, I was- “

“Rubbing off on you am I? You know Bruce doesn’t like strangers in his cave right? “ He stopped a few feet from her and put his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.

“Please, I am not a criminal like you. Plus, I was invited here for some reason obviously. I’ve also known Batman’s identity for years now. I have proven my loyalty and trustworthiness, I think I can handle being in her without a chaperone. Besides, what would I find in here that would get me into trouble anyways?” 

“Ah yes, now Sunshine is asking the right questions.” Jason took another step forward and reached for the file she didn’t realize she was holding. Raven looked into his eyes and saw the green glow behind them, not dimmed as they usually were around her. She got a sudden sense that this whole situation was not a good idea, but she figured she’d wait it out a little being just a little too curious to follow her better judgement. 

Jason took the file from Raven’s hands and opened it to review the information inside. “Ah, Sunshine, you picked a good one here.” He began to circle her.

“I didn’t pick anything, Jason. I -”

“Abandoned warehouse -psh- tacky if you ask me.”

“Jason, put it away. We shouldn’t be in here. Especially not looking at cases that were left on Batman’s desk.”

“Oh, shut up princess. First things first. I am allowed in here with or without permission because fuck Bruce. Secondly you’re a fucking Titan, you should be allowed here especially since you were invited to be here. And lastly, fuck Batman.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re a Robin.”

“Was.” Jason interjected with venom behind the word.

“Whatever, you’re one of his. But Rob-Richard invited me. I don’t know what for exactly, but he said he needed me and so I came.” Jason had stopped his wandering about and tensed for a moment. Raven turned to face him and reached out with her empathy to feel a spike in anger coming from him. She wondered what that was for but right now she felt like she should just get out of dodge before she or Jason did something stupid. “I shouldn’t have come in here without permission though. I see that now. I’ll be leaving now.”

Raven began toward the door to head back to her place in the library. She felt a little dejected since she really hadn’t accomplished anything she thought she was going to when she rallied herself to find a purpose for being here. Just as she was about to pass through the doorway, she heard the file being thrown onto the desk and she turned to see Jason striding toward her. 

“You’re right Raven we are leaving.” He brushed past her and headed up to the main house. “But get your gear ready. We are leaving in twenty.”

Raven found herself still in the doorway and Jason almost out of sight. She ran to catch up with him, “Wait, that’s not what I meant. Jason I -”

“You what? You want to stay cooped up in this fucking house and spend your whole day in the library on one fucking book? I didn’t realize you like to waste your time in someone else’s home when you could be out there saving someone. I mean isn’t that the whole point of your ragtag team back in Jump.” He was now right in front of her glaring down. She had never seen the green behind his eyes so bright and present. 

“Look, I want to be out there. Watching Robin’s back, helping out but…”

“Dickhead told you that you can’t?”

“I know he knows this city better than I do and I trust his judgment. If he thinks that I’ll be putting more people in danger by being out there, then maybe I should just be here for emergency standby or something.” Raven had to admit to herself that when she said it outloud, it didn’t make much sense and something about that made her feel naive for blindly going with it.

“Raven, you’re probably the strongest person on that team of yours. Trust me I’ve fought you all before. Robin doesn’t know shit about this city since he’s been on the other side of the country for years on his own. Yeah sure he visits every once in a while when Bruce is feeling nostalgic, but that doesn’t count for shit because Bruce is handling just about everything on the mission. I don’t know what that dipshit leader of yours tells you, but just from the few days I’ve spent with you, you’d probably be able to take down every last villain in Gotham if you had to. If you were trained to your full potential.”

Raven just stared into Jason’s eyes for a moment, trying to find a hidden motive behind his words. His sudden speech of her might and ability felt too sincere to be really coming from Jason, the arrogant bastard. Part of her also couldn’t process that someone other than Robin saw her as more than a mediocre witch. However, all she found was the receding glow of green and confidence in what he had said. Jason broke contact momentarily and when he looked back once more before he turned and made his way toward his room, she caught a wave of guilt and sadness briefly flowing from him. 

Everything about Jason had become a never-ending war of her assumptions about him and his surprising actions battling to form a precise judgment of him. The person she thought he was has been ever-changing since she had officially come to know a little more about him. Jason was the definition of mysterious and she had grown to be more and more curious with every interaction. 

Without another thought she ran to her room and threw on her uniform. She didn’t really have any “gear” to assemble as she manifested her power and she only needed her uniform for battling purposes, so she was ready within minutes. She spared a glance in the mirror. Her uniform had remained the same throughout the years and only needed small adjustments to accommodate her growing figure. She felt a little childish still wearing her leotard, boots, and hooded cape, but it was what she knew and was familiar with. If it worked, why change it? The only thing to annoy her enough to entertain the idea of changing was the media’s hyperfocus on her body once she turned eighteen. 

She was old enough to be scrutinized sexually too, Yay for her. Luckily Raven didn’t have major body image issues but still these things cross her mind when she looks into a mirror. They didn’t use to. When it started, she wasn’t sure. Perhaps after she started secretly dating Robin, she would find herself comparing Starfire’s looks to her own. She still does it but less frequently as she knew that Robin would probably be upset with Raven thinking less of herself. 

That's the thing about Robin, where he lacked in some aspects of their relationship, he was very good at making sure Raven knew how attractive she was to him. He didn’t want her to change the way she looked because he liked her the way she was. He gave her the independence she needed but always made her feel beautiful. She just wished he made her feel wanted in all ways all of the time…

Raven broke herself from her chaotic mind and realized she had spent the remaining time of her allotted twenty minutes. She mentally scolded herself and made a mental note to do some serious meditating later so she could focus on the task at hand rather than delving into her relationship issues whenever she was alone. 

She used her magic to pinpoint Jason’s location. She found him back in the Batcave and thus where she teleported to. She opened her portal right behind Jason. 

“Neat trick princess. Try using that on new bad guys and you’ll get them to actually jump.” 

“Ok asshole, I wasn’t trying anything. It’s just where my portal ended up.” Raven scoffed and made some distance between them as she pulled her hood up.

“Easy now sunshine, I didn’t mean to upset you. Now let's get going.”

“Where exactly are we going and what are we looking for?” She turned to face him and noticed he wasn’t wearing his Red-X costume nor any particular costume at that. He had on black cargo pants tucked into matching steel toe combat boots. He wore a slightly different variation of the leather jacket he had on earlier, black this time and plain black shirt. 

“Well, that file you were holding was a mission Dickhead was planning to go on probably tomorrow, but we’re gonna get the jump on it. Seemed right up your alley. Made sense why you pulled it.” He crossed to the vehicles and started to get on his motorcycle.

“What do you mean right up my alley?” She walked up to Jason as he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. He pulled out photos of the abandoned warehouse followed by large crates with unknown contents. She still didn’t know why this connected to her at all until he pulled out the last photo.

“Dr. Light? Why isn’t he still behind bars? We caught him the week before we left to come here? What is he doing in Gotham?”

“That is what we are going to find out princess, now come on.” With that Jason put on a mask similar to Robin’s but more angular and sped out of the Batcave and through to the secret exit spitting him out onto the streets of Gotham. Raven flew to follow him. 

Dozens of questions were on her mind. Dr. Light was a Jump City villain, he was a low-level D-list bad guy. Definitely not Gotham material. Why wouldn’t Robin relay this information to her? She could clear up this case by just showing up in front of the criminal. There was obviously more to this case and more to the reason she was actually here for. She’d figure out both issues in due time.

Currently, she just needed to keep up with Jason. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Raven's POV**

They arrived at the listed warehouse along the outskirts of the bay. Raven had followed Jason to an empty alley a few streets back where he deposited his bike. She had transported them to the roof of the building across from their intended target and he began his surveillance.

"You know, it seems that every fucking crime happens near these docks in one of these shitty supposedly abandoned warehouses. It just makes me wonder why we don't just station a fucking cop in one so they can happen upon these stupid crooks and let us do real work." Jason groaned and squatted.

"That seems like a waste of resources if it doesn't happen that often and really what's one cop going to do?" Raven crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow. Jason just huffed and focused a set of binoculars across the way.

"All I'm saying Sunshine, is that these criminals need to start getting more creative with their meet up spots. I know Red X always was." He looked back up at her and winked as she rolled her eyes. 

"Yeah well Red X is gone and we caught him plenty of times."

"Mmm yeah that's it." He chuckled a bit.

"Is there usually this much chatting during a recon mission with you? I mean we're not very well hidden." 

"Eh, I try to keep it fun. But I'm not too concerned, there doesn't seem to be anyone here."

"That's strange, why did Robin have this on a file then?"

"Technically the pickup or drop off is tomorrow if Dick's info is correct. But you're right, it is strange that they don't even have an undercover guard just to make sure it'll be set for tomorrow." Jason brought the binoculars away from his eyes and pondered for a moment before he hopped up and took a step toward Raven.

She sent him a quizzical look and took a step back.

"Can't you do one of those..." He brought two fingers up to both sides of his temples. 

"What the hell is that supposed to be?"

"You know…" He gestured to the warehouse.

She scoffed and cocked her hip, "If you're asking if I can sense for anyone within the building, then yes." She took a step toward the building and floated to a lotus position. 

She turned her head back toward him. "And I don't look like Professor Xavier when I do it." She just heard Jason laugh.

"Sorry Princess, if I offended your magical powers. Please enlighten me of your ways."

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." With that her soul self flew through the sky and sunk into the shadows of the building. Within a few minutes she could feel no presence and returned to her body. She stood up and faced Jason who watched her from his seat on the roof leaning against the ledge. He had that dumb smirk on his face as he chuckled lowly. 

"You're right Sunshine, your process is much cuter." Heat rushed to her cheeks as she wasn't expecting such a statement. 

_ Did he just say I was cute? _

"So, did you see anything in there?" He stood up alongside her.

"Um, no...nothing." She turned away willing her blush to recede. 

"Alright let's dive in then." He walked toward the side of the building to the fire escape on the side. He turned around and began walking backwards. "Well just me, you stay here. I'm gonna check to see if they left any cargo laying around or have any documents about what's exactly being transferred." 

Raven ran to him and he began to descend. "Jason wait! I'm coming with you!"

"Shh, no names rookie."

"Oh I'm sorry should I call you Mister Leather Jacket Man or how about Nuisance? You're not really wearing a real costume right now ex Red X." 

"Ow, you wound me Sunshine." He brought one hand over his heart but continued to climb down. He called back up, "Those insults need work. Red is fine, my favorite color anyway."

He quickly dashed across the street and dove into the shadows between a dumpster and some rotting crates. She let out a sigh of frustration and teleported herself into the small space with him. As soon as she appeared he grabbed her waist and threw her against the wall.

"Ow! What the h-" He shoved a hand covering her mouth and glared at her. She took a breath and nodded allowing him to remove his hand.

He leaned into her ear and whispered, "They have fucking cameras hidden in the lampost over there. Based on the size they've got an infrared attachment."

Just then a faint red glow covered the alleyway highlighting a few inches away from their feet. Her eyes widened and she looked back at him. He let a out a small "fuck" and rubbed the bridge of his nose. 

"That light is made up of thousands of lasers that shoot back to the camera. They have a calibrated time that it takes for those lasers to hit an object and bounce back. Any changes in those measurements and it'll set off an alert. Most do a sweep of their area every three minutes but who the fuck knows about this one."

"I can get us out of here." Raven offered, ready to open a portal.

"No, we've come this far to leave empty handed and have to explain to Dickhead. However this wasn't in the file which means he didn't know about the extreme surveillance." Jason took a deep breath. "Is there any way you can snoop around in there without being physically tangible?"

"No, that's not really how it works. I can create a portal through to the other side of this wall and we can look in that way."

A silence fell over them as Jason seemed to mull over his next move. Raven still felt heat rise as she noticed he was still holding her against the wall, his face inches from hers. She focused on his face and noticed little niks and scars on his chin and eyebrow. These marks made him look more roguishly handsome along with the shiny strands of silver hair mixed within the white in the front of his hair falling forward over his forehead. She let out a small breath and hoped he couldn't see her blush for the second time that night. 

"Ok, I've watched the laser pass by us twice in six minutes confirming that they do a sweep every three." His words reeled back her wandering mind and he smirked with a quiet snort. "They put in all this effort but can't be bothered to change the default settings?" 

He turned facing her again and made direct eye contact. "I'm not going to risk us both popping in there. I want you to do it. We're looking for any crates with markings, papers left on a desk, anything that would show that this warehouse isn't actually abandoned. We have to assume that they have the same lasers inside but they may be off time-wise. We'll wait for this one out here to complete its sweep and wait a minute before poking inside. Hopefully that will cover any lag time between the setup of the lasers. Based on size I'm betting they'll be two but as we can tell they're not too worried about trying to throw anyone off so they'll be along the sides with a small overlap in the middle. Are you ok with these instructions?"

Raven gave a small nod and waited for his signal. When he nodded she opened a portal and stuck her head through.

Sure enough Jason had been correct. She spotted two unconcealed similar looking cameras about six feet from either wall. She had no more than 2 minutes to look around although there wasn't much to see. The warehouse was mostly empty save for a workbench and an overturned chair. She was about to pull back when she noticed a paper pinned to the wall next to the emergency exit. She couldn't tell what it said but it looked to be where personnel signed in and out. She pulled back through the portal and seconds later the laser made another sweep. 

"There's nothing in there besides a chair and an empty workbench." Jason tilted his head back to lean against the wall. 

"Shit."

"I want to go back in but I'll need to phase in right below the camera."

"No, we don't know if there's a proximity alert on there so nobody can tamper with it."

"Ja- Red look, there's a sheet in there on the wall. I think it's a sign in sheet for use or inspection by personnel."

"You really think Dr. Light is going to fill it out so he can leave evidence of why he's here? I don't think these guys follow protocol."

"You don't understand. Someone sends someone to check in on these warehouses. They're still owned whether by the city or private company, they're just not used. But that sheet is too new so somebody goes in and actually does their job, or at the very least phones it in but signs it so they have a record and can't get in trouble."

Jason cut her off, "Which means that the last person to sign off had to have noticed the modifications to the building or are being paid off and may have some intel. Raven you're brilliant!" 

"Give me your phone so I can get a picture."

"Ooh, slick way to sneak your number into my phone." He winked at her again.

"Red be serious, we need to get out before Batman and Robin notice we're gone."

He handed her his phone with the add contact list screen pulled up. She had to hold back a bit of laughter from his lame antics. She spared him a glance and rolled her eyes, a soft smile playing on her lips. She went back in after his signal and snapped a quick picture. When she returned she opened another portal to the rooftop of the building across the street.

They stepped out of the portal and she handed the phone back to Jason. He pulled up the picture and zoomed in on the name. 

"Joe Flynn. I'll check it out at the cave. We should get going."

"Do you want to drive back or do you want me to teleport us to the cave?"

"Ugh, make me choose between riding my baby or hoping on this lead? That's not nice."

Raven shrugged and opened a portal heading in when Jason stopped her.

"Fine, take me with you." She smirked and brought them through.

When they appeared on the other side Jason walked alongside her looking down at his phone smiling.

"Aw Raven, you did add your-" 

The door to the batcave slammed open and Dick stormed in.

"Where the fuck have you two been?"

"On a date." Jason casually replied as he started to walk past him. Dick reached out and shoved him back.

"Not fucking cute Jason." He was glaring at him and his fists were clenched.

"Aw did I upset you? Oh wait, I don't give a fuck either way. Back off Dick."

"I asked where the fuck were you. You're going to answer me."

"Or what Dick? You'll punch me again and end up on  _ your  _ ass again? Fuck off, we've got work to do."

"You aren't going to touch anything." He started toward Raven. "Raven, answer me. You left your communicator here and your personal cell phone. I want answers. Now!"

"Leave her alone."

"I'm her leader and she follows MY orders!"

They closed the space between them dropping to a semi-battle stance.

"Some leader you are, you-"

"ENOUGH!" Raven yelled separating them with her magic, throwing them both back a few feet. "No one is going to get the results they want if you two keep acting like assholes."

"Raven I ordered you to-"

"Yes, I heard. Kind of hard to miss it when you practically yelled it at me."

"You're in no position to give me attitude."

"If you want answers you're going to shut up and listen, attitude or not, or I'll summon a portal for me straight back to the tower." 

Dick stared past her with fury in his eyes. His face was red and his fists were still clenched. Jason had resolved to sitting in the chair at the desk, elbows on his knees, looking between the two. Raven sent him an annoyed look and he simply shrugged and leaned back in the chair. She heard Dick exhale loudly and he forced his stance to relax. He now looked directly in her eyes, fire still behind them, but more controlled.

"Ok,  _ please _ continue."

"I had come in here trying to find something to do to be helpful. Whether that be organizing files or just looking them over to see if I saw anything. I figured I could be a better asset than taking up one of your guest rooms." She took a deep breath and began to pace, Dick's eyes not leaving her form. "Jason came in and saw what I was up to and noticed a particular file about Dr. Light." 

She noticed Dick tense a bit at this but she continued. "Knowing my history with him, Jason suggested we pursue this case for further recon as your notes had stated you were intending on stopping their official plans tomorrow. I figured that had you noticed I was gone, you would try contacting me, setting off my communicator or phone which may have alerted enemies nearby. Using my best judgement I left them behind, I also did it so you couldn't track me and perhaps blow our cover."

"What if you were in danger?"

"I wasn't."

"But had you have been-"

"I wasn't and I had Jason with me the whole time."

"Jason is a beacon for trouble. He doesn't follow procedure or behave like what you're used to. You put yourself and the mission at risk!"

"Jason was fine and proved to be very useful. He knew what he was doing and so did I."

"Yeah well I hope you fulfilled your needs or whatever because it will not be happening again."

"Robin you can't be serious."

"I am."

"Don't you want to know what we gathered?"

"I had everything I needed in the file you stole."

Jason stood up from the chair thrusting it back harshly into the desk. Both titans turned to the sudden noise.

"Your fucking file didn't say anything about high grade laser distance meter surveillance."

"What are you talking about."

"There's a fucking camera in the light post south of the warehouse. The bastard sends out a shit-ton of lasers measuring the distance of objects in its field and sends the information to a computer. It's like those single lasers you can get at Home Depot for construction but thousands of them to cover large spaces. Whoever set it up, calibrates it to how the field of view naturally is, any changes in that like a bird or new trash alerts some asshole behind a computer. They log into the feed, figure out what it was, and recalibrates it accordingly. But if a whole fucking human body shows up they alert their goons and now know we're onto them and change the whole operation making all your work fucking useless."

Dick for once looked a bit surprised. He tried to hide behind a stoic face but Raven could see past it. Jason walked right up to Dick with his arms crossed.

"Did you precious file have that in it?" Another staredown began and Raven wanted to smack them both for being idiots.

She rubbed her head feeling a headache coming and added, "We also found a name that may give us a new lead. What you have in the file is good Robin, but it's not enough. It barely connects Dr. Light to the case and not much more beyond that. Our best bet is to find Joe Flynn and see if he knows anything."

"We won't be able to get to him before the transfer."

"I'm not sure we should go through with trying to stop it." Dick turned back to her in almost shocked disgust.

"We can't just let them go, we know they're going to be there."

"I'm not saying we don't go, but maybe we should get more information from the transaction."

"You can't be serious."

"I agree with Raven." Jason cut in again, he looked over at her and with a reassuring smile nodded at her. "We don't even know what they're dealing with or who is involved. Plus with the surveillance system it's going to be hard enough to get close without triggering an alert and giving them a heads up. Hell, we can even try to throw a tracker on it or just follow the shipment to see where it ends up."

Dick shut his eyes as if contemplating their plan. Slowly he nodded. "We'd have to wait until after the transaction when the shipment is already moving. That's the only way we can get close enough to place a tracker."

Raven couldn't help but let a small smile of accomplishment grace her face. She was grateful to have Jason back her up and even more so to have Robin come to his senses and agree. 

Dick sighed again and put his hands on his hips and hung his head. His emotions pushed on her empathy and she felt guilt and regret wash over her. She saw his hesitation before he opened his mouth again and he looked up at her once more.

"This is not your mission Raven and you will not be proceeding any further."

She felt anger boil inside her trying to claw its way out. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Raven this isn't up for discussion."

"She just helped your case and basically came up with a new plan. You can't fucking say it's not her case, it's barely your case at this point." Jason took a step toward Raven.

"I know and I appreciate her- your help Raven." He switched his focus from Jason to herself. "But none of us really know what we are up against. Gotham isn't a place to screw around and at the end of the day this is a case for Batman. As much as I don't like it, none of us really have control right now. I'll relay this to him and see what he says but he sure as hell isn't putting Jason anywhere near this. And I'm sorry Raven but you're not part of the team here in Gotham. It'd be different if we were in Jump. I'm sorry." She could see the sympathy in his eyes but it didn't make her any less pissed off.

"Then why am I here  _ Dick _ ?" She couldn't hold back the venom that seeped into her words. "I feel fucking useless and just when I actually do something, you find a way to still make me useless."

She could feel the start of tears prick her eyes. She wouldn't dare let him see her like this so she called a portal and fled to her room. 

She was so hurt and frustrated.  _ This whole fucking day has been a fucking rollercoaster. _ She felt like crying but found that she couldn't. She was tired yet restless. She felt a pounding in her head and her heart. 

She kept questioning her purpose here and opened a portal with the tower as the destination on the other side. Contemplating the repercussions leaving would have, she hesitated. 

_ Knock knock knock _

  
  
  
  



	10. Chapter 10

**Raven's POV**

_ Knock knock knock _

Raven's magic shuddered as the portal closed in front of her outstretched hand. Her breath became shallow and she slowly brought her arm toward her chest. She stayed still, hoping that whoever at the door would leave. She was in no mood to deal with anyone.

_ Knock knock knock _

Raven took a deep breath and whispered her mantra to herself collecting her emotions. Figuring that the intruder wouldn't leave she might as well get it over with. With bated breath she approached the door, pausing over the handle for a moment to regain her composure and put her emotional mask back on before she opened the door to reveal… Robin?

_ Why was she disappointed that it wasn't Jason? _

Her eyes narrowed. His eyebrows had a tilt of concern to them and his normally clear blue eyes were swarming with an array of emotion. She picked up heavily on regret and the looming guilt again. 

"Raven,  _ please."  _ He rested his hand on the door preventing her from closing it in his face.

"There is nothing I want to hear from you right now. Leave." She stood tall, well as tall as she could next to Robin, and crossed her arms. 

"I'm sorry Raven. Believe me when I say that I regret saying those things to you. Jason just-"

"This isn't about Jason, or whatever has been going on between you two. It's about me. This, for once, is about me."

"Let me explain then, I don't want to hurt you or make you feel useless or anything of the sort." He slid his hands to her elbows and lowered his head to look into her eyes.

"It's a bit too late for that. Ever since I came here, you've left me to do whatever, missions, I'm sure. But you hardly talk to me after and poor Jason has to be the one to keep me company." She felt his hands tighten on her arms. She sucked in a breath at the pain that shot up her arms as she tried to back away. Her movement shook him and softened his grip, muttering apologies. 

"Just let me talk Raven, please." He looked so desperate and she could see the sincerity he held in his eyes. 

The corner of her mouth lifted to a half smirk and she dropped her gaze. "Is  _ the _ noble Richard Grayson begging?"

"If it'll make you hear me out, then yes." His face softened and he gave a delicate smile.

She pulled back, opening the door farther and allowed him to enter the threshold. She passed through the space and sat on the edge of the bed, hands folded in her lap. He closed the door behind him but stilled for a moment with his back toward her. She heard a soft  _ click _ of the lock. A little fear and heat rushed through her. 

He spun around and walked up until he was right in front of her. He got down on his knees and placed his hands on the outsides of her legs, looking up into her eyes. 

"I need you to listen. Try to be understanding. Let me finish and I'll answer any questions. Can you do that for me?"

Raven wanted to refuse him, wanted to force him out. But looking into his eyes now, seeing his desperation, his warm hand on her trembling legs. How could she not at least hear that man she loved out? She gave a small nod that was greeted with a thankful smile.

"Thank you." He broke contact for a second looking down and wiping his hands on his pants briefly. He resumed the contact and looked intently into her eyes again. "I brought you here because I needed you. I always need you. So I want you to understand that first and foremost. I wasn't kidding either when I said Gotham is a whole different beast. Everything that happens here is more intense and likely to result in a death or two. I had to be careful in what I told you to keep you safe. To keep you from doing something stupid to prevent me from doing something probably even moreso."

He moved his hands to grasp her own. "You're my second in command back at the tower and I wouldn't change that for a second, whether we were in this relationship or not. You're the strongest and smartest woman I know. In knowing that, I figured that had I run into any complications I could bring them up and see if you have any insight. But I had been working so close with Batman, nothing really came up. I didn't want you to get involved and put yourself at risk if you didn't have to. With the case tonight, I truly believed we had it all mapped out. And while I am impressed with the information you were able to gather, I was also really fucking pissed that you didn't warn me or express to me your concerns. You just did it and went out with Jason of all people. I know it might sound ridiculous coming from me after what I just put you through, but it  _ hurt _ ." 

He sighed and ran a hand through his sleek dark hair. "Every mission that goes on in Gotham is practically handled directly by Batman, and you two just basically screamed  _ fuck you _ at him and put us all in a rough spot. I will brief him and let him know the information gathered first and hopefully he'll focus on that. I'll pretend that I knew about it so at least someone seemed in control on the outside. He won't be happy, but he should take most of his frustration out on me rather than you. Whatever is leftover can be directed toward Jason since going out was his idea. I care about you Rae. I love having you here in my home and meeting my family. It's so important that you are here with me. I'd never want to make you feel anything less than loved and I'm sorry if I did. Everything I do, I do to help everyone out and protect those closest to me. Sometimes things don't go as planned or end up hurting the wrong people, but I never want or intend for that to be you. I'm sorry Raven."

He squeezed her hands and nodded. Signaling that he was done with his speech. Raven took a deep breath for what seemed like the fiftieth time that night trying to process all that he had said. She looked away contemplating her next words.

"Why did you need me  _ here _ though. Questions could be answered over the computer or communicator. And you haven't needed me physically here before."

Robin's hands now rested on her thighs. "I change when I'm here, Rae. You must see this. When I return home it takes me a while to get back to being me. You help that though. You keep me,  _ me. _ " One hand slid up her side landing on her cheek, his thumb brushing over her cheekbone. "When you don't listen to me and disappear, I worry. It kills me to think that you could be getting hurt out there and there would be nothing I can do."

"I had Jason."

"Shh, I don't want to talk about Jason. This is about you." His eyes flicked to her lips and her to his. A blush creeped up her body and spread all over. Her breath was heavy in anticipation now. Robin rested his forehead against hers for a moment before he captured her lips with his. He was hesitant as if she might pull back. Instead she lifted a shaky hand to the back of his neck and pulled him closer. 

With this acceptance he grazed his tongue across her lower lip asking for entrance which she happily obliged. He deepened the kiss, tasting every inch of her mouth. He tasted like coffee and spice, a taste all too familiar to her. She felt him unclip her cloak and discard it on the floor somewhere. Expert hands knowing exactly where the hidden zipper started on her back and slowly pulling it down. She nibbled his lower lip and released it with a soft moan and even quieter grunt from him. 

He stood up and brought her to her feet with him, tugging the leotard down her form. His eyes were glued to hers making her body ignite with sparks everywhere he touched. When she stepped out of her uniform he dove back into her kiss with more than passion. His hands massaged her hips, giving a light squeeze before they slid up her waist to her breasts clad in black lace. 

Her hands fell to the hem of his shirt and tugged it off with need, coming back a second later to trace the definition of his muscles. He broke the kiss and trailed his lips along her jaw and to her neck nipping at the juncture of her neck and shoulder eliciting a sudden gasp. He pulled her hips into his, she could feel his hardness press warmly against her and she hopped to work unfastening his belt and sliding his pants down his toned legs. 

She couldn't wait any longer as she brought her hands to his shoulders for support while she jumped to latch her legs around his hips. This caught the boy wonder off guard but he recovered quickly cupping her ass with strong hands and crawling onto the bed. He pressed her form down to the mattress and resumed his assault on her neck. He made quick work of both their underwear leaving them to lay forgotten on the floor. 

One hand supported himself beside her head while the other traced random patterns down her chest encircling her nipple. He gave a small pinch followed by rubbing the area with his thumb before massaging her whole breast. She arched her back into his hand begging for more contact. He lightly pressed her sternum back down and began his trail again down her stomach. His mouth began its descent mimicking a similar pattern of his hand to her other breast. Giving a chaste kiss to her erect nipple before running his tongue around it. He nibbled a bit before paying the same attention to the other side. 

His fingers bit briefly into her hip before they snaked between her thighs. He stroked her wet folds before rubbing circles on her clit. She bucked her hips up in desire for more contact and she felt a smile against her breast. Her moan filled the room when he sunk two fingers into her depth. 

Curling them against a spot that made her see stars he continued to assault her clit with his thumb using careful slow strokes. He lowered himself kissing along her toned stomach, dipping his tongue in her belly button sending another jolt down her spine. He bit her hip before peppering kisses down to the insides of her soft thighs.

Chills raked her body and found one of her hands seeking his dark locks while the other fisted the sheets underneath her. His kisses were too light and she was on fire. She gave a desperate tug on his hair to signal her burning need. He placed a kiss on her hot core and dragged the flat of his tongue over her folds. She whimpered and her fists tightened. 

His tongue worked its way around her clit pressing firmly until it moved down, spearing her. It all felt too good. He continued to lap her up as she thrusted her hips into his face. His moan reverberated into her core sending white hot sparks through her. His hand aided in her pleasure, plunging in and out of her as he retreated his mouth back to her clit sucking hungrily on it until she couldn't contain the heat that pooled down low. Her whole body shook and she cried out his name and was brought to her first orgasm. Her eyes shut tight as he continued to take in her flavor.

He crawled back up her body planting more kisses on her slick body until he came back to her face. She opened her eyes coming back down from that sweet high to be met with a hungry gaze. She tentatively reached a hand up and around his neck to bring him to a gentle kiss. She could taste herself on him and it built up her desire once more. He deepened the kiss again and he steadied himself between her legs.

He locked eyes with her once more as he slowly inserted himself. He grunted as if it were painful to go this slow. His steady strokes ended with powerful thrusts and his name escaped her lips again. His head dropped to her neck.

" _ Raven…"  _ He moaned, sinking his teeth in her shoulder once more. Both of their bodies were slick with sweat. Her body was still tingling from her first orgasm but she could feel the second one coming close. She loved that he was taking his time to worship her body and make sure it felt good but she was getting impatient. 

She grabbed his hair forcing him to look back into her eyes. With her amethyst eyes staring into his lust-filled blue ones she demanded it, "Faster….fuck me harder." 

He instantly hooked her leg around his hip and increased his speed. Sweat trickled down his defined chest and down his abs. Just as swiftly as he pulled out he slammed right back in with force enough to make the sturdy bed creak. Within moments her second organsm came without warning, her nails raking down his back. He took a few more thrusts until he grunted into his own ecstasy. 

He collapsed on top of her taking a few breaths as she swept some stray hair out of his face. He rolled over and pulled her into his chest. 

"Mmm...Robin, that was some apology." She curled into him, her hand drawing lazy circles around his heart. She loved the feel of the strong beat of his heart. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

"I take it that you accept." She looked up to see him grinning like he won some award. She chuckled and swatted his chest. 

"Does it mean that I can still help with the case." She regretted the words as soon as they left but they had weighed heavily on her mind and she couldn't stop them. He tensed underneath her and his arm fell from around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin the moment."

"It's ok, you're not the one to ruin it… I am." He shifted out from under her and sat up rubbing at his leg while facing away from her. She mimicked his action and wrapped one arm over his shoulder while her cheek rested against his shoulder blade.

"What does that mean?"

"I think you know what that means, Raven. It means that what I said still applies. Both you and Jason are not allowed on this case anymore. Speaking of which...I should probably go report to Bruce before he finds out on his own, and then it'll be too late for damage control." He began collecting his clothes and putting them on.

"Is that what this was?" His actions stopped as he looked at her with confusion. "Damage control?"

Realization of what her words meant sunk in and his eyes widened as he was now face to face with her again. 

"Oh God no, Raven. That is not at all what this was. My verbal apology, sure, that's the point of them after all. But this…" he gestured from the bed to her, "Our  _ love  _ making. That was entirely different. That was me proving myself to you. That's all. No hidden agenda." He held her face in his hands and kissed every inch of her face. Locking his eyes with her before leaving a searing kiss on her lips. 

She hated to use her powers especially on him but she took this moment to seek out his emotions. Her kiss faltered for a moment as she came up with nothing from his emotions but lust and concern. She couldn't get past the two surface emotions. 

He drew back with more concern rising within him. "Is everything alright?" 

She wasn't sure if it were her own unstable emotions that kept her from delving into his mind deeper, or if he had mentally restrained her from doing so. Not wanting to make a judgement when her mind wasn't clear she gave him a chaste kiss.

"Im fine. Thank you. You should go find Bruce. I mean to say that with no attitude." She smiled softly at him.

Robin returned the smile and deposited one last kiss. "Thank you, Raven. I don't know what I would do without you." With that he grabbed the rest of his clothes and made his way out the door. 

Raven believed his words and his actions but her mind still felt conflicted. She just had to meditate and put her mind at ease. This was Robin, she loved him. That would have to be enough for her right now.

Now thoroughly worn out, she let sleep wash over her, hoping that tomorrow would ease the remaining tension.

…

**Richard's POV**

He made his way out of Raven's room and closed the door quietly. He leaned back on the door and gave a sigh. He was an idiot sometimes and all of his mistakes were going to bite him the ass one day. But he would push that day back as far as he can and hopefully be at a place in his life where it wouldn't affect anyone but himself. 

He debated whether to go straight to the cave where Bruce undoubtedly was and report to him or stop by and grab a drink and perhaps something to eat. Figuring a quick detour wouldn't change anything, he opted for refreshments. He knew Jason wouldn't be stupid enough to report to Bruce himself so he made the gamble to wait just a bit longer.

Upon entering the kitchen he saw Jason sitting on a barstool leaning over the counter. There was an over half way empty bottle of whiskey on the counter and an empty glass next to his brother's hand. Dick shook his head at Jason's destructive choices and passed by to the fridge. He pulled out orange juice and opened up the cupboard that held the glasses. Jason's sudden voice stopped him abruptly.

"You must be one fucking good liar." Jason's eyes pulsed a bit with green that Dick recognized as the pit burning within. On top of that there was a tinge of red to the whites of his eyes and the surrounding area.  _ Had Jason been crying?  _

"Look, Jason. I don't want to get into it with you. Not again. Not tonight." Dick put his hands up trying to defuse his brother.

"Oh but you sure as fucking hell didn't mind getting  _ in to it _ with her? Huh? Try to fuck your problems under the rug?" Jason was glaring at him with so much hatred in his eyes.

"Jay, I think you need to stop drinking and either go to bed or work out your anger. You need to stop."

Jason shoved his glass off the counter, smashing it into the door next to Dick and standing up. "You don't dare fucking tell me how to let off steam. You just went in there," He pointed in the direction of Raven's room. " _ LIED _ to her. Then fucked her, playing as if you're some goddamn damsel in distress that needs her for emotional support."

Dick's eyes went wide and he backed away looking for an escape plan. "Jay-"

"I saw the other FUCKING FILE Dick." His voice cracked a bit and Dick saw a sheen to his eyes signalling oncoming tears. "You're fucking using her as bait? I know who Blood is and what he does. I thought the mystical shit with Joker was bad enough, but all these assholes coming together is bad news. I can see why Bruce demanded she came. But you?" 

A low humorless chuckle rumble low in his throat. His voice dropped to a gruff whisper, slowly rising with intensity, "What I can't fucking see if why you would let her come. Why you would pretend she's here as a fuckable cheerleader?" Jason stepped closer to him now and he countered away in response. Jason's words held so much anger, "You're just going to coincidentally ask her questions regarding it, hoping that it'll be enough for Bruce? She's going to be needed on the field soon enough. And instead of preparing her for the oh so terrifying world of Gotham, you're shielding her and making her crazy all cooped up in here."

Jason closed the distance between them with his fist raided ready to strike. Dick not expecting the change in pace flinched and braced for the impact. When no impact came he looked back to see Jason's back. He barely heard it but it was audible enough. "You make me fucking sick." 

Jason's form started to retreat. Dick stepped forward. "I'm doing what's best for everyone. You don't love her like I do."

Dick could see that his words made him stop. He turned around and squared up to him. "I may not love Raven because we don't have that type of relationship. But I respect her. And I know you Dick. You don't love her. You throw that word around when it suits you and you don't give a shit what it truly means. Just the other fucking day you told me you weren't anything more than fuck buddies. What's changed. You sure as hell haven't seen her enough to have a grand breakthrough."

"Not that I owe you an excuse of all people, Jason. But I do love her. I say things that I think will protect the people I care about. That will protect her. The last thing she needs is for it to come out that she's my significant other, that puts a heavy target on her back." 

"You only say things to make whatever the situation is more convenient for you. She already has a big fucking target on her back considering she  _ is  _ the main target. Don't bullshit me Dick. You're a fucking weasel and she'll find out and this will all blow up in your fucking face."

"You're going to be there to console her huh? You're to break her heart by telling her and think she'll crawl into bed with you after? You're a selfish delusional prick."

Jason let out a scornful laugh. "I'm not going to do anything. She's smart, as I said before, she'll figure you out. I'll be there for her as a friend with truly no ulterior motives. That's the difference between us Dick, I know who I am and what I want. I make choices boldly and don't hide behind hidden sentiment. You lie to cover up past lies until you're in so far fucking deep that you actually start to believe them. I may make some selfish calls but only when I can be the only one responsible for them. You make choices for yourself under the guise it's for others. I'm sick of your shit and I'm done playing nice. Fuck off or something will happen that we might both regret."

Jason made his way to the door opening it.

Dick couldn't stop it but he felt himself call out the words, "I love Raven."

"In too far fucking deep." Jason muttered, shaking his head and in an instant Dick was left by himself in the kitchen with open cupboards, a warming jug of orange juice, and scattered glass. 

Dick was frustrated with his younger brother. How dare he assume he knows the bond he and Raven share. Yeah he had made mistakes in regards to Raven's purpose here, but it was for her own sake.  _ Right? _ Jason was just looking for things to be mad about, it always has to be about him. Dick was a leader, she is his teammate first and his lover second and he has to remember and respect that. He can't let his team down. He'd put himself in harm's way first and try to deal with it on his own before he put his teammates in danger. He would act the same for any members of his team. That's who he is. If Jason perceives that as being self-serving, then fuck him. He didn't owe Jason an explanation. He apologized to Raven, he may have omitted some information but that wasn't lying.  _ Right?  _ She accepted it and forgave him. End of story. He just needed to focus on keeping her away from the real mission to keep her safe. What's a few more white lies if it is for her benefit?


	11. Chapter 11

_2 years ago (from present) Wayne Manor_

** Jason POV **

Jason was fucking pissed. He blamed himself in part, because if he had just gotten there first. Maybe if he had just risked it all and told her about Dick's deceit, then they all wouldn't be in this huge fucking mess.

Last night after Raven left the batcave, he had made a move to follow her. Dick had put a hand on his chest to stop his movement. Right there he should have brushed the hand off and kept moving, but no, that's not what happened. 

Dick had looked at him so pleadingly, practically begging him with just his eyes to let him fix it. Jason severely disliked Dick at this moment but he was aware of the two bird's bond and their stupid relationship. Dick then proceeded to beg Jason to give him a chance to fix his mistake. 

"I want to fix what I broke, I can't lose her like this." Dick had dropped his head and Jason could hear the slight tremble in his voice. Jason thought that maybe Dick had seen the error in his ways and maybe would completely open up to her. 

"You have to tell her Dick, everything. Lay it all out and let her choose her path in this. No more fucking lies, man. She deserves at least that much." He thought what he was doing was right. It truly sounded like, for once, Dick gave a shit. So there Jason was, left standing in the batcave alone after he took a step back and let Dick go after Raven. He had looked back to give Jason a grateful smile before he vanished behind the door in a hurried jog. 

Jason sighed heavily thinking he did something right, did a good thing to help out someone else. He just couldn't shake this awful feeling that he had made the wrong decision after all. Did he believe Dick would do the right thing? Would he put himself in a position to lose everything and possibly ruin the case he and Batman were working on? 

A cold realization drenched Jason as he contemplated his actions. "Fuck me."

Jason unzipped his jacket and started walking toward Raven's room. He didn't trust Dick one fucking bit, he was manipulative and while possibly caring, there's no way he'd put himself on the line in that capacity. Jason checked his phone, he'd taken time to put his motorcycle back and write a few notes down in the file before he came to his senses, effectively giving Dick about twenty minutes so far. 

When he finally approached her door, he gave the handle a quiet turn finding that it had been locked.  _ Shit. _ He was too late. He put his ear to the door to hear Dick's lame excuse about him needing Raven to keep himself in check.  _ Bullshit. _ Jason was pissed beyond belief among hearing the sound of their lips making contact. He tried to pull himself from the door but found that his body was unresponsive.

Dick had weaseled his way through the argument with half-truths and probably more lies and then found a way to end it in sex? Jason was disgusted and the sound of her moans permeated the wall and finally rattled him awake to get the hell out of there.

Jason didn't have a romantic relationship with Raven, not at this point. Sure he thought she was hot and smart, witty, intelligent, the fucking list could go on and on. But the point is he respected her when it came right down to it. That was the foundation of their weird semi-friendship they did have Sure he'd fuck her if she gave him the chance, hell he'd see about courting the woman because he knew that's the kind of thing she deserved. Jason was definitely not the kind to wine and dine a girl, he was very used to getting laid by almost whatever woman he wanted whenever he wanted, but Raven was different and thus he would be different for her. So it pained him to see her being treated in such a way especially by his "brother". 

After he regained the will to move he wound up in the kitchen downing half a bottle of whiskey. After the dip in the Lazarus pit, it took longer to get drunk, so he needed something strong and he needed it fast. He didn't know why he bothered with the step of pouring it in the glass because as soon as one went back he was already filling it again. Probably the manners Alfred tried so hard to instill in him. He was so fucking frustrated though, manners be damned.

Jason brought the bottle of the burning liquid straight to his mouth and took a swig. He liked the way the hard alcohol burned his throat, trying to burn away the thoughts that plagued his mind along with it. He huffed and laid his face on top of his arms that rested on the counter. His brain wouldn't stop playing alternate scenarios that could have made him feel better or at least would have been better for Raven. He picked his head back up preparing to take another sip, the alcohol now working its way through his body. He stopped when he noticed that his forearm was wet and his vision was blurry. 

He wiped at his eyes.  _ What the fuck?  _ His hands came back wet too.  _ Am I fucking crying?  _ Jason Todd didn't cry. He blamed the pent up frustration and the guilty feeling he knew he would have everytime he thought of Raven. God he wished that she'd make it out ok, that she'd figure Dick out and move on to something,  _ someone _ , better in her life. He was just so fucking pissed, he wanted to yell, to punch something. Quite honestly he wanted to punch Dick. He wanted his mind to shut up and let him drown in the damn whiskey. 

Then Dick walked in. It took every bit of strength and sense to not beat the living shit out of him. He walked in with no regard for Jason and went about his fucking merry way. When Jason looked up he saw a satisfied look on Dick's face and he couldn't stand it.

Now here he was fighting a hangover, staring at the dumbass ceiling. After the confrontation with Dick he stormed to his room praying no one else bumped into him. He had another fitful night of sleep and woke up in the same foul mood made worse with a damn headache. He prayed to whatever god would listen to not run into anyone today. He swore if he saw Dick that he'd fucking deck him. If he saw Bruce he'd probably get in an argument and wind up leaving. Alfred would give him a lecture and probably be upset for leaving the broken glass all over the kitchen floor. Raven….if he saw Raven, he didn't know what he would do, probably something stupid. 

This all brings him back to what he was going to do with his day. Popping a few ibuprofens, he took a shower to relax his tense muscles and changed into lightweight grey sweatpants and a black dri-fit workout shirt. He decided that he'd either sleep the rest of the day or workout and his outfit was ready for either activity. Right now, he was starving and found himself halfway to the kitchen. He noted the lack of glass everywhere and made a mental note to apologize to Alfred when he saw him. Not in any mood to cook, he just grabbed an energy bar and a banana and figured he'd get out of dodge before someone came across him.

Naturally this brought him to the library where he was shocked to find Raven curled up on the sofa with a file in her hand and a small stack on the table in front of her. He hadn't quite gone in yet and he wasn't sure if he was ready to face her. Maybe he could quickly sneak out.

"Morning Jason."  _ Shit _ . Her voice fluttered through the room.  _ No escaping now. _

"Hey there Sunshine. What do you have there?" He sat down in one of the armchairs across from her. Setting the banana on the coffee table and unwrapping the protein bar. 

She hadn't even looked up at him, her eyes still focused on the file in her lap. "Ro-ichard gave me these to look over. Something about wanting more information about the symbols and people from these cases."

Jason raised his eyebrow as he finished the bar. Dusting off his hands, he moved to sit beside her looking at the file over her shoulder. "Are these open and under investigation?"

"No, strangely. These were Titan cases. One of them is about the markings on my body from our battle with Slade and Trigon. But we know those were the mark of Scath and the others on my body were the prophecy." She pulled out some photos detailing every glowing mark along her arms, stomach, and legs. Jason took them and inspected them.

"Damn, little bird, costume got a little skimpy there. Had I known, I would have petitioned for the change to stay." He laughed as he continued shuffling through them. He could feel her tense beside him and she went silent. 

"I'm sorry, bad joke. I know that was a hard time for you." He placed a hand on her shoulder. She reached up and placed her hand on top of his and looked up at him. 

"It's ok, Jason. I guess it does look a little crazy." Her hand dropped to the photos as she took them back.

"Umm. Not crazy, you look good. Like hot good. I mean it's weird for me to say it now as an adult and you were like sixteen here. But my tender Red X heart would have picked on you more had I known what was hiding under that cloak." He smirked at her and watched as a blush spread across her cheeks. 

"You can't be serious." She looked incredulously at him. 

"What? Come on, you're killing it with the crop top tank and bikini bottom look. I guess I missed the petition. How did it end up that way anyhow?"

"Slade." Her focus trained in on the photos, her eyebrows furrowing. 

"Slade did that to you? Why the fuck is he touching you like that? Fucking pedophile."

"He wanted to scare me and 'reveal' my fate and prophecy. He did really frighten me, and I don't scare easily. After he tore the last piece I could feel lust radiating off of him. I felt so sick and powerless. Had he not made the deal with my father to make sure I came back in one piece. I'm certain he would have done something worse than throw me off the roof. Look what he did to Terra." 

Jason was disgusted with the assassin. What a fucking sicko, lusting after a poor girl less than half his age. Fucking sick. "I'm gonna shoot his dick off." 

Raven's mouth fell open in shock and her eyes widened. Jason looked back at her and shrugged. "I'm not fucking around, I'll do it."

Raven burst into laughter, probably the loudest he has ever heard come from her. After a moment of shock from her reaction he joined her in laughter. 

"How noble of you. Never had anyone offer to shoot someone's dick off for my sake." Her hand came up to hide her continued laughter.

"Don't think too highly of yourself, princess. I think a dickless Slade would benefit the majority of the world. I'd be doing it for world peace." His comment led to another bout of laughter from the two of them. She laid her head back as she caught her breath. 

"Thank you Jason. I haven't laughed like that in… ever really. Feels good to have your mind taken off of things for a bit." She smiled at him and his heart almost did a flip. 

"Anytime, Sunshine. My comedy club is open 24/7, enter anytime." He smiled back at her and for once felt at ease. He loved her smile, it was so genuine and made the world seem brighter to him. Made coming back to the manor seem worth it, just for this one smile. She cleared her throat and her eyes dropped his gaze as her cheeks turned pink.  _ Fucking adorable. _

"So, what else has your mind occupied little bird? Identifying known symbols, Blood's attempt to steal powers with a machine. Solved." He flicked through the cases on the table. All of them had been closed and figured out previously by the Titans.

"I don't know. R..ichard, just woke me up and handed me these saying that we need to look them over, that they might be helpful to a case he and Batman are working on. I don't see how they could be relevant. My father is gone, Blood was captured and his members disbanded. The machine was destroyed and so was the lair. These other files are just random crooks, petty theft, arson, this one was a cut and dry murder that was gang related. He tells me that you and I are still off the Dr. Light case. But then he hands me this shit. I feel like this is just busy work to keep me out of his hair." She threw the file from her lap onto the top of the pile and rested her head against her knees. 

Jason knew how they were connected and why Dick would have those on hand. It made him feel a little better that he was giving her something but she was right. It seemed like nothing because she had no context. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be the one to tell her, because truthfully he didn't have all the information either. He knew a lot but Dick and Bruce had to know more. Why start a conversation he can't finish.

"It probably feeds into the master plan that you and I can't be privy to." He stated simply. A short silence fell over them before it was interrupted by Jason abruptly standing up. "Ok, Sunshine. Time for a break."

She looked up at him startled from his sudden movement. "Break? This is the first time I get to do actual work."

"How long have you been at it?" He placed his hands on his hips.

"Well, Richard woke me up before heading off to the cave which was around five and you came in at about eleven forty-five so…"

"So break time. C'mon you've probably gone over those files dozens of times already. I'm not saying finish for the day but merely take a breather."

"And what do you suggest I do?"

"Read something better than files." He shrugged.

"Oh great take a break from reading files to start reading a book. Jason that's more than a 'breather'," she said accented with air quotes,"that is hours worth of time I could be using to help Robin."

"Oh, you misunderstood me little bird. I didn't mean for you to read a novel. I already have something in mind I think you'll enjoy." He walked to the ladder and began climbing to his desired shelf.

Raven neatly stacked all of the files together on the coffee table and spun around on the couch, draping her arm and chin over the back. "Oh you do, do you?" 

He twisted on the ladder, a book in hand, and smiled at her. It was a smile that meant trouble and he couldn't wait for her reaction to the item he chose. "I'm fairly certain you haven't read this before, but I'm confident you will finish quickly." He held the book out to her and she hesitated a brief moment, looking up into his eyes before accepting the book into her grasp.

Her eyes roamed over the cover and her fingers danced along its edges. The reading material he had given was fairly short and he could see the gears turning in her head as she tried to place the title. "Lysistrata? I've never heard of this book."

"Ah, princess, that would be because it isn't a book. It is a play and that is it's script. Although not the original version, seeing as though it was written in ancient Greek. Here we have it in English."

"I can read Greek, you know that right."

"Great, so you can read it in your most proficient language and then read it in its original language and tell me how badly it was screwed up during translation and how much better it is in its original format."

Raven's mouth opened as if to retort, her eyebrows furrowing with a tilt of her head as her mind seemed to have come up empty. Jason chuckled a bit enjoying the sight. She flipped open the cover and without another word her eyes darted left to right reading the script. He rolled his eyes and picked up another book for himself and sat a space away from her on the sofa. He wondered if she imagined the play in her mind as she read it or gave the characters a unique voice in her head like he did. He glanced back at her, her back against the armrest and the script propped against her knees. He smiled to himself and continued his own reading, enjoying the comfortable silence.

After about fifteen minutes had passed, he stole another look, watching as her eyebrow would quirk every once in a while, presumably at something ridiculous one of the characters had said. Without lifting her eyes from the page she stretched her legs placing them over Jason's lap and crossing one over the other. She proceeded to turn the page without any acknowledgement, while he looked down at her legs now resting on his thighs and back up to her with an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips. He chuckled lightly and tried to focus on his book instead of how smooth her legs looked. He gave in and looked past his open book and stared at the pale expanse of her thighs and the strong muscle they contained.

_ What he would give to have them wrapped around his head as he ate… _

Jason cleared his throat quickly squashing down those thoughts. He could revisit them later in the comfort and privacy of his room or shower, not right next to a fucking empath. He spared a glance and prayed the emotion hadn't lasted long enough for her to pick up on it. Alas there she sat quietly flipping to the next page, face without emotion, no sign of any reaction. 

"Jason."  _ Shit. _

"Uh, yes Rae?" She finally raised her eyes to meet his, confusion flashing across her face for a moment. 

"Rae? That's a...different choice. My name is Raven not Rae first and foremost. But why are you staring and not reading your book?" Her dark eyebrow rose in question and he swallowed trying to refocus after being caught.

"You let me call you sunshine, princess, and little bird, what's one more nickname?" He tried to deflect as he didn't have a response formulated for her question.

"I've gotten used to those ones, plus telling you not to call me sunshine is like telling Batman not to brood, it isn't happening whether we want it to or not."

'"Aw Sunshine, I'm touched." He mockingly wiped a nonexistent tear from his eye.

"Whatever, just read and stop staring."

"Sure thing princess." He winked at her and she shot back a threatening glare. She waited until he opened the book again and began reading, assuming he had listened to her before she resumed her own reading. Jason had more interesting things to look at than this book that he has read before and that he could easily return to whenever he wished. Jason worked out a brilliant plan to satisfy both they're requests. Her request for him to read, and his internal request to keep looking at her. He would read a page and as he flipped to the next, he would explore the dark beauty next to him with his eyes. 

His eyes trailed up her legs, past her plump thighs, to the thin navy cotton shorts. The color contrasted with her ivory skin making both seem richer. When he ran out his allotted time he quickly skimmed the next two pages so he could 'flip the page' again. He continued his assessment of her attire during the next break and came to find that she was wearing a lightweight hoodie, with probably just a tank top underneath, but he couldn't be certain from his angle as she was still reclined back. That's how his reading time was spent for the next fifteen minutes. Fake read. Flip and let his eyes roam. Repeat. 

The chain was broken when Raven let out a sigh and sunk further down the sofa so her head and back were level on the cushion. She drew her knees up giving her that extra room, though she left them hovering over Jason's lap. Her heels on one side while he could feel just the edge of her ass on his other. 

"Really?" He brought his arms around her knees so that he could hold the book an appropriate length away to be comfortable. 

She shrugged and outstretched a leg and rolled her ankle before returning it to its position. He was slightly inconvenienced but she looked comfortable and content. He was pleased that she felt that his company was normal enough to lounge so casually with him and it brought an almost giddy smile to his face that he quickly reeled back to a smirk. But now he faced the problem of having her very soft porcelain smooth knees right in his field of view. He wasn't sure if he could take this very long without wanting to touch her. 

As it turns out, ten minutes was too long and he decided to casually address his situation.  _ Fuck it. _ He 'absentmindedly' dropped one of the hands holding the book up to the outside of her mid thigh. He felt her stiffen at contact and he almost retracted his hand but he was already this far and she hadn't said anything. He began brushing his thumb against her skin.  _ Fuck it was very soft. _ To his right, Raven sucked in a small breath that she tried to hide with a turn of her page. Jason smirk deviously this time.

After about three minutes of just rubbing his thumb over her thigh, he switched to his other fingers and drawing shapes and patterns up and down her upper leg. Once six minutes of that had passed his hand casually made its way to just below her hip right before the hem of her shorts. Now given her position, the shorts had slid down exposing more of her leg allowing more territory for Jason to explore. His large hand covered a lot of ground on the outside of her thigh and he laid his hand flat against her cool skin and squeezed ever so lightly. 

He didn't feel her react at all and this finally brought his attention to her face. She still held her book open above her stomach angled toward her face looking like she was still enthralled in the play. However, if he leaned back just a little, he could see her biting her lip while a dark blush overtook her face. Her eyes were wanting to close and presumably allow her to just feel, but he could tell that she fought it. 

"Done with that play yet princess?" His signature smirk was plastered on his face as he watched the script drop from her hands.

"Huh? I'm sorry, what was that Jason?" A distinct blush was evident on her cheeks. She scrambled to reclaim the play back into her hands.

He chuckled, "Head in the clouds, eh? I mean it has almost been an hour and you're not done? I'm disappointed, Sunshine. I thought you were a fast reader." 

She withdrew her legs from his lap and sat up, tucking her legs underneath her. "I'll have you know that I did finish. I was just… synthesizing the symbolism and the play as a whole." Her eyes shifted around but quickly locked on his with a nod of her head as if to convince herself that that was the truth. Jason knew better though.

"Yeah, ok. Well oh mighty synthesizer, what did you think?"

"It was ridiculous, but honestly reveals a lot about ancient Greek culture and the treatment of women. As a performed piece, I think it would be quite funny."

"Right! I mean it makes men look like complete idiots without sex, weak sex crazed beings, totally unrealistic. But I suppose for the purpose of the play it makes a good plot."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Men are sex crazed and are weak when it comes to making a decision with their  _ other head _ ." She deadpanned while glancing down toward his crotch to signify her meaning before meeting his eyes again. She blushed but turned away to hide it.

"Hey now, we men have evolved since ancient times. It isn't all about sex. Yeah it's fun and we like it but we don't let it control us." He set his book down on the coffee table and crossed his arms.

She threw her head back and gave a short snort. "Please, men are just as dumb. Most if not all men couldn't turn down sex let alone a kiss from someone they find even semi-attractive."

"You think too little of us men, princess." 

"Is that a challenge?"

"Uh no?" Jason dropped his arms and raised his eyebrows in confusion. He didn't recall challenging her to anything. 

"Could you deny a kiss or sex from a girl you find attractive?"

"Yes?" His answer was laced with laughter.  _ Where was she going with this? _ Her arms were crossed now and she was focused on him. 

"Let's see about that."  _ Oh, this was the challenge. _

"Look, Sunshine… I don't think this is a good idea." He held his hand out trying to surrender before any challenge had begun. 

"Are you scared you'll succumb to your primal desires?" A smug look overcame her face.  _ Fuck me. _

"No, I just don't want Dickhead to walk in and get the wrong idea. It's my head not yours." He had to shut this down a.s.a.p. 

"He's nowhere near us. He's probably in the batcave with Batman." She tapped her head. "I can't sense them nearby."

"This isn't like you. It isn't that big of a deal, you don't have to prove anything." He scooted back on the sofa until his back hit the opposite armrest. 

"How do you know what I'm like? And you're right, it isn't that big of a deal. I feel confident in my assessment. Plus, it seems  _ fun _ ." She nonchalantly added.

"Since when do you do fun?"

"Since when does the former Red X deny a challenge?" It was her turn to smirk as she shifted a bit on her legs. 

She was pushing his buttons now. He wanted to just accept and prove the demoness wrong...but could he actually do that? Her point was that men would accept advances from someone they find 'semi-attractive' but what if that 'someone' was actually extremely fucking attractive? 

His cocky stubborn side won out and he couldn't stop the words that flew out of his mouth. "You're on Sunshine."  _ Fuck it, I was trained by Batman, I can handle myself for five fucking minutes.  _

"Foolish man." Raven gave a small throaty laugh as she looked down and closed her eyes, preparing. Jason on the other hand decided to give his best cocky appearance and leaned back and put his hands behind his head. How bad could this be? She was known to hold back emotion, was she even capable to be this open with someone other than Dick?  _ Let's see what she can do. _

Raven snapped her head back up and his eyes widened just a bit. A whole new atmosphere surrounded them. She rose to her knees, never breaking eye contact as she slowly played with the zipper to her hoodie. She drew her bottom lip between her teeth as she lowered the zipper to reveal a lacy black bralette.  _ Fuck, that's what was underneath. _ She stopped when it reached the end of the band and spread the opening wider giving him a good view. The material didn't offer much support but it did draw her breasts together giving her some nice cleavage. Her breasts weren't the biggest he's seen but they were a good size and well proportioned with her wide hips and large ass. 

Jason swallowed, the challenge already proving to be harder than he thought. He could already feel his cock twitch awake. He tried to casually take a deep breath to calm himself down. All she did was unzip her jacket and he was already excited. 

He wasn't fairing much better when she began crawling closer to him, giving another great view of her cleavage. Her gaze was piercing and he cleared his throat and glanced away for a brief second before a delicate hand caressed his cheek and roughly grabbed his jaw and snapped his head back to her face inches away from his. He could feel her breath on his lips. His eyes darted to her mouth. He could just lose the bet and get a kiss out of it. 

Then she smirked.  _ Oh, she thinks she's about to win.  _ His eyes shot back up to hers and he cocked an eyebrow giving off an unimpressed look. Her head tilted as if recalculating and next thing he knew she was dragging her leg over his and she was straddling him. Her hands rested on his shoulders burning through his shirt. She lowered herself to sit on his lower thighs, had she landed closer she would have felt his hardening member, so he was thankful. 

Her hands slowly descended down his chest until they reached the hem of his shirt where they began to crawl up and trace the lines of his abs. He sucked in a breath and reluctantly closed his eyes. Her hands felt like cool spring water against his burning skin and every inch she moved up made electricity shoot directly to his cock. He opened his eyes to meet her beautiful amethyst ones. Only they didn't look quite right, they seemed to carry more pink. No, this was darker than that, perhaps a mauve. They were enchanting and he was already drawn in. He looked back to her plump parted lips. Her breaths were shallow and her eyes switched to being on his own lips. 

At that moment she dragged her nails down his stomach and he groaned and threw his head back.  _ This feels too fucking good.  _ One of her hands abandoned its post playing around his belt and he missed its presence until it was behind his head and threaded through his hair. She tugged sharply bringing his head back up and millimeters from her lips. She grabbed his belt and pulled herself flush against his and right over his painfully hard erection.  _ Fuck.  _ His hands snapped to her hips and they bit into them hard enough to leave bruises. He sat up and pressed his chest to hers. Looking directly into her eyes, he never wanted anything more. They were both breathing heavily.  _ Just a little further.  _ Her warm core felt so good over his hardness and he wanted to stay like this forever. 

She rolled her hips slightly and he groaned again. Her eyes looked more mauve and fuchsia than their normal mix of purples and he knew something was wrong. He struggled with doing what was right and stopping this before she did something she probably didn't want to do and doing what was wrong and fulfilling what he definitely wanted to do. Against the wishes of Jason's devil on his shoulder, he reluctantly pushed her hips away and shivered from the loss of heat. He then broke the lust-filled silence, bringing her forehead against his own. 

"Alright Sunshine you won. I really want to fucking kiss you." He pulled away but she didn't move. Her head tilted down.

She looked at him through thick lashes. "Then why don't you?" 

Jason tried to steady his breath. "Because, I think something happened up here and it wouldn't be right. Not like this." He gently tapped the side of her head. That seemed to stir something inside her. She closed her eyes tightly and quietly muttered her mantra. When her eyes opened again they had returned to the mesmerizing shades of plum and amethyst. He smiled softly at her. "Welcome back, little bird."

Raven tucked her hair behind her ear and a deep blush rose up to her cheeks. She looked away and took a few more deep breaths. "I take it that I won?" 

Jason laughed robustly and released her hips laying back against the sofa. "Yeah you fucking won. Although we can now say women act the same way."

"That would imply that I find you attractive and that I wanted to kiss you." She smirked and got off of his lap. 

"You find me very attractive, everyone does. Besides, you were about ready to pounce on me as I you." He squirmed in his seat trying to relax, it didn't seem to be working. 

The silence grew between the two and Raven stared at the floor in front of her. She almost whispered as she breathed out an apology. "I'm sorry Jason, I should have had better control. I didn't mean to put you in an awkward situation." 

Jason subtly adjusted his still hardened member and turned to face her. "Trust me little bird, you didn't do anything I haven't dreamed of before." His deep laughter echoed through the remaining quiet. 

"Jason!" She swatted his shoulder as he continued to laugh, her shock of his outwardness evident on her pale features. 

He stood up and began shifting the furniture aside to form a clearing in the middle of the library. Raven looked at him, puzzled, her mouth open slightly as if deciding whether to question his actions or let him be. Opting for the former she rose to her feet as well.

"What the hell are you doing?" 

"Uh, moving furniture. I thought that was obvious. Maybe Batman doesn't need your help on these cases if you're not able to piece that together." He grinned at her.

"You know what I mean, Jason!" Her hands flew to her hips and her eyes narrowed. "This distraction has lasted long enough. I should get back to work." 

"Oh please princess, we know there's nothing for you to find in there yet. Maybe something will stand out later once you've gotten it out of your mind for a while."

"It's been an hour already, that's a sufficient amount of time." She moved to the coffee table to collect the files that were placed there. Jason slid in front of her before her hands could reach. He put his hands on her upper arms and held her at arm's length.

"Woah, hold on there. Play time isn't over yet."

"It is too. Now move Jason before I make you." Her eyes flashed a brief moment in warning.

"Great! I'm glad we're in agreement." He smiled down at her.

"Agreement?" She scoffed, brushing his hold of her off.

"Yeah, we're going to have an impromptu sparring session."

"No we are not."

"Oh yes we are, Sunshine. I played along with your little challenge, so now it's your turn to indulge me."

"It was a challenge that  _ you _ accepted and may I remind you that I won." She crossed her arms and leaned back into a cocked hip. 

"Technically it was a tie. I tried to stop you but you wanted more, I could have let you take it but as the gentleman that I am, I calmed you down."

"Gentleman?" Raven snorted.

"Yes, now come on to the middle of the rug here." He grabbed her by the wrist and led her reluctant figure to the middle of the clearing.

"Here? Jason, we couldn't possibly."

"I'm glad you've decided to accept. And yes, here. That's why I moved the furniture out of the way. No powers, no full force or throwing, unless it's to the ground directly beneath us. Should be fine."

"We could definitely mess things up in here. What if Richard comes in and sees?" She began to back up.

Jason countered and tapped her head. "You can sense him remember, plus this wouldn't be the first time someone fought in here."

"Why do you even want to spar me right now?" She rubbed at her temples trying to reason with herself if this was a good idea. 

"Well….I've got to take care of this somehow." He put his hands on his hips and stepped back looking down at his crotch. Although significantly reduced, there was still a tent in his pants. Raven's eyes followed his and her face turned red when she noticed his receding erection. 

"Isn't there another way to take care of that that doesn't involve me?"

"Well you're the cause of it, and I mean I could run to my bathroom and jerk off in there, but where's the fun in that. Besides, I already moved the furniture." He shrugged and moved back and stretched his muscles. 

"You're insane and crass. I don't have to do this." 

"Ah, but you haven't left yet and you know you want to  _ try _ to punch my crass ass." Jason smirked at her knowing it would only further her annoyance. 

Raven glared at him but began stretching as well. 

They both dropped to a fighting stance, staring down one another, slowly beginning to circle each other. He watched as her eyes flicked around his body looking for an opening and going wide for just a moment as they landed on his bulge. Her cheeks reddened and her eyes darted away. Now was his chance to strike. Jason dove forward and kicked his leg out to her side. However Raven reacted quickly and dropped her arms down to deflect.  _ Shit that move was too slow. _ She counteracted with a jab to his jaw and the blow made contact. Shocked and dazed momentarily he withdrew a bit to collect himself.

He was going to have to do better. He blamed the lack of blood to other parts of his body, namely his brain, due to its current occupation of his dick. It didn't help that Raven forewent zipping up her jacket and her breasts bounced in time with her steps and movements. Just as quickly as blood flowed out of his dick, it came right back. 

Catching him off guard once more, Raven sprung forward and feigned a punch to his left that he fell for as she landed one into his side and then dropped to swipe his legs from under him.  _ Fuuuuuck.  _ He wasn't doing well at all. This would be the second time she'd win if he kept this up. He had to get his head in the game...well his other head. Jason shook his head from his place on the floor earning him a goading smirk from Raven. 

"Nice shot, Sunshine. Let's see if you can do that again." He picked himself up and immediately jabbed with his left fist before hooking with his right directing at her ribs. She blocked the jab and managed to pop backwards barely dodging his attack. 

"Gladly." Her chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. As she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet she smiled cockily. He came back up to her and sloppily threw a punch that she easily dodged. She jumped back and roundhouse kicked him in the ribs in the same spot she had punched earlier.

_ Fuck this shit. _ He full on charged at her, only seeing her eyes widen like that of a deer caught in headlights as he wrapped his arms around her and tackled her to the ground. He made sure to catch their fall on his forearms as to lessen the impact on her. He still managed to knock the wind out of her for roughly thirty seconds. He laid her on the floor gently allowing air to make its way back into her lungs. A short string of coughs followed and her face finally started to fade back to its cool ivory tone. She was  _ pissed _ and he had to admit she still looked hot. He placed his hands on her shoulders to keep her in place, he wasn't about to let her get the upper hand any time soon. 

Raven glared at him hard, and he just grinned back feeling mighty confidence that this fight was over. That of course was until she bucked her hips into his, sending him flying face forward to the floor above her head. He caught himself, hands on either side of her head. But just as he gathered his wits, her arms came up and around his right elbow and clasped each other in a double fist before she brought them down buckling his arm. His shoulder made contact with the ground and her left ankle adjusted to be on the outside of his right one, she then bridged and flipped them over with ease as he lost all leverage. There seemed to be so many intricate movements but they all flashed before his eyes and suddenly he was on his back looking up at her flushed proud face. He was at a loss for words. 

She leaned down to his face, inches from his own. "I did it." He could see the majestic hues of purple swirl among her eyes, wishing he could stare into their depth for eternity. The calming shades easing his spirit and mind. He could feel her labored breaths on his lips, deciding if he should bring his to her own and end his need. Before he could make any decision, she pulled back, her face dusted a light shade of pink. She gave a final deep exhale and plopped down, ending the tension of their fight but igniting the fire in him again. The edge of her firm ass brushed against the half mast member and he sucked in a breath. She tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Ok….ok, you did." With her still on top of him, Jason sat up. That being a mistake as her body slid down landing directing on his erection. She gasped and blushed harder and he closed his eyes and groaned. Raven placed her hand on his shoulders, nails biting into his flesh, only adding to the sparks that coursed through his body. Her core was so warm.  _ Holy shit, I'm so fucking hard, there is no way she doesn't feel this. _ He was certain that she could feel his arousal both physically and mentally. 

He opened his eyes to find hers closed and her lips parted. She rolled her hips into his and the friction between their pelvises felt too good, causing him to fall back to the floor, gripping her hips and holding her steady against his own. Raven's hands landed on his chest, a soft moan falling from her lips. 

"Raven…" This felt like where they were at less than half an hour ago. If she was anywhere in the same mindset as before he knew this wasn't right.  _ But fuck him, it felt right. _

She seemed to snap out of it on her own and she clambered off of him and sat on her feet beside him. She combed her hand through her hair and zipped up her jacket, catching her breath. Jason dragged his hand down his face and sat up again, laying his arms on his bent knees and his forehead against his arms, he sighed. "Fuck, Rae." 

"I'm sorry Jason." She wiped her hands on her shorts and whispered her mantra again. Her head snapped up suddenly, "Shit!" 

Jason raised his head to look at her. "What is it?"

"Robin is coming! We have to do something." She was frantic now, her eyes darting around trying to formulate a plan. "We've got to take care of that before he comes." She pointed at the hardness between his legs.

"Yeah well, so far you've made that pretty fucking hard...uh no pun intended." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. 

"Well, I can fix it...magically. That is, I can put you to sleep and well...it should put everything  _ else _ to sleep too."

"Yeah, whatever, just do it. I just don't wanna end up with a case of blue balls." He shrugged and laid back down. "Do what you gotta do, little bird."

"Wait, we have to have an explanation. You think he'll just accept that I put you to sleep on the floor in the middle of the library for no reason?"

"If it looks like I'm sleeping then just say you knocked me out. My ego might be in jeopardy but I think it'll heal." He laughed. 

"Not to say I'm not capable, but you think Robin will believe that I was able to knock you out without a scratch on me?"

"Ouch, I get it, the wrong head was in control and you beat me-"

"Jason I'm being serious." Her face and body language matched her words.

"So what do you want to do then princess? The fight is over."

"Hit me." She stood up, arms slack at her side.

"No. That's stupid." He got to his feet and the second he was up, his fist was encased in her black energy and she pulled it hard into her face, landing on her right cheek.

"Fuck!" She released his hand and hers went straight to her already bruising face.

"SHIT RAVEN! What the actual fuck?!" He was stunned to his spot looking between Raven and his hijacked hand.

"It's ok, I'm fine." She held her hands out to keep him at bay. "We now have an excuse as to why I put you out. You landed a good shot on me and with my emotions on the fritz because of my lack of meditation, I let anger take control. You already have bruises on your face and ribs that I'll be in the process of healing when he comes in...which is in about thirty seconds so get back down." 

She started shoving him to the floor ignoring his protests. "Raven, fuck what dickwad says, heal yourself that looks bad and he's gonna fucking kill me for that."

"Shut up. Azarath Metrion Zinthos." 

Black energy swirled around him and the next thing he knew, the world around him was blank with darkness.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized I still had many mistakes throughout the chapters, so I went back and edited them. Hopefully I got most of them.

**Raven's POV**

Jason looked peaceful for once. He laid there motionless, his mind somewhere distant as she healed his wounds. It was all an act but she had to play through so Robin wouldn't be suspicious.

How could she be so reckless? Sure she could blame her need of mediation for her lack of control, but she felt ashamed of herself. She could lie and act as if she wasn't in control and it was a mistake that lust took over, but the truth is...she  _ liked  _ it. Raven wanted it so badly. Her body had burned for Jason's touch and when she got it, she wanted to take from him all that he would give her.  _ It felt good _ . She felt wanted in ways that she hadn't experienced since the early days with Robin. Jason was so open about his feelings, something she envied yet was thankful for. He wasn't confusing like Robin or her emotions. 

Lust had taken control but partially because she let it. Jason had stopped her and while disappointed and unsatisfied, it was the right thing to do.  _ Funny, leave it to the ex-criminal to do the right thing. _ Raven couldn't explain why she let things escalate as they had. She was supposed to be the responsible titan. But she was certain Jason would lose the challenge and she could shut him up, and it did sound fun to do. Here at the manor, nobody aside from Robin actually knew her. Sure they had some idea but she could allow herself some more freedoms before she had to face reality back in Jump. She sought to take advantage of that but at what cost?

She felt guilty for using Jason like that, for all he knows she was single. She played with his emotions and used him for her own pleasure.  _ Not that he seemed to mind. _ It was still wrong and she had to apologize. She had to keep her emotions in check and could not allow herself those freedoms at the expense of others. As much as she was in a rough patch in her relationship with Robin, she'd never betray him like that. Between the mission with Jason, to the argument, sex, and workload from Robin, she hadn't meditated at all. She would just have to take the rest of the day and apologize to Jason tomorrow. 

"What the hell happened in here?" Robin had finally walked in, withdrawing her from her internal struggle. Her back was to him while she crouched over Jason's sleeping form.

"Jason and I were sparring and he got the best of me and I lashed out. My emotions have been sporadic lately since I haven't had a moment to meditate for a while and I knocked him out when he got in a good hit." She moved her hands to his face to heal the bruising there. "He'll be fine, Anger was a little harsh but I'm clearing up all his injuries."

"Raven, why the hell are you sparring with him? Especially after last time." She looked behind her shoulder to see Robin crossing his arms and scowling. 

"Last time? When I beat him and you had a stupid hissy fit? This was nothing like that. If you didn't give me busy work, I would have had time to meditate and this wouldn't have happened at all."

"Raven...that's not what that was...just hurry up with him. As far as I'm concerned he probably deserved it. Coming in here, bugging you,  _ distracting  _ you."

Raven finished her healing and stood up, back still turned, not ready to face him. "He wasn't distracting, he gave me a break and we disagreed on a...book...uh.." She didn't want him to see what she'd actually been reading. Something told her that he'd piece together what happened more quickly with the subject of the play. She noticed Jason's book on the table and squinted to see the title.  _ Pride and Prejudice really Jason?  _ "We argued about Pride and Prejudice and I challenged him to a sparring match to settle the dispute."

Robin raised his eyebrow in suspicion. It wasn't the greatest lie she could come up with but it made sense given the two book worms. 

"You sparred over an old book?"

She took a quick deep breath in and exhaled as she finally turned around. Robin's eyes darted to the large bruise on her cheekbone and immediately flew towards her. "What the fuck! This isn't 'a good hit' this had a lot of force. What the hell is he doing hitting you that hard? You shouldn't have healed him at all."

"I'm fine Robin! I can handle myself. I've been put through buildings, a solid punch isn't nearly as bad. Besides, you didn't see what I did to him. I knocked him out, I think we're even." She stood up straight, standing her ground. Did Robin think she wasn't strong enough to take a stupid punch? 

"It's not about being even, Raven. It's about him actually hurting you enough to cause this much damage. I know you're strong, but Jason admittedly is stronger, he shouldn't have used his full force." He gently reached up to touch her cheek, she flinched at the contact making him drop his hand in anger. He looked to the still sleeping Jason and glared daggers at the man. 

"I don't need anyone holding punches! The real bad guys sure aren't going to say 'aw I'm physically stronger than her, better make sure I don't leave a mark' that's bullshit and you know it. I can heal anyway, no big deal." She walked back to the couch and plucked a pillow from it to place under Jason's head. After doing so she moved to walk past Robin.

"Yeah but it costs you energy to do that and from what I heard, you don't have much left to spare, especially after healing his dumbass. I just want you to be smarter than him Raven. Be safe and take care of yourself first."

"Whatever, I'm going to go meditate now. I'll probably need the rest of the day." She barely made it to the hallway before Robin ran out after her.

"Uh, Rae? Hold on!" He jogged and caught up with her in seconds. She just kept walking, not wanting to argue anymore so she could focus her emotions and heal the damn painful swelling of her face. 

"What Robin? You said it yourself, I need to take care of myself, so let me go do that in peace."

"Raven, it's a little too late for that, but can we not do this again? Unfortunately...I need you to come with me to the Batcave. Batman wants to speak with you." He rubbed at the back of his neck and avoided her gaze.

"Shit! I..I can't. I need to reign in my emotions before I do something stupid in front of Batman of all people!" Raven began to panic. She had a huge bruise on her swollen cheek from his son and she was tired and irritable. 

"I'm sorry, it's important. He needs you now and he doesn't like to waste time." 

"Azar! Fine, just give me a moment to collect myself and at least heal this." She gestured to her face. "I'll be down in a moment."

"Ok, I'll see you down there. Oh and don't mention the whole sparring in the library thing with Jason." He gave her a half smile before disappearing down the hall.

She raised her hand to her cheek and let her powers flow through them. She looked at her reflection in the glass of a picture frame making sure the mark had been completely erased. She took a few steadying breaths before following the path Robin had taken to the cave.  _ Here goes nothing _ .

She walked into the cave to see Batman standing in front of the large monitor displaying files on various criminals and a map with pinpoints on it. This would be one of the few times she has interacted with the Batman. Her heart was pounding in her ears and although her outward appearance remained calm, her mind was buzzing.

Robin looked up from a separate desk. "Raven! Great, we can get started now."

"Uh. Hi." She stepped closer to the dynamic duo. 

"Did you come up with any connections or insights from the files Robin gave you this morning?" Raven stopped in mild surprise. She didn't think she was going to get a conversation, but he just ignored her and jumped right into work.  _ Yep, Robin definitely picked up that trait.  _

"Umm, No Sir. I looked at them for hours and I couldn't find anything unusual. I mean they're closed cases and I'm not entirely sure-" Batman held up his hand cutting her off. Raven's mouth fell open at his abruptness and she recoiled a bit. 

Batman turned to face her, his eyes narrowing behind the cowl. "Robin briefed me on yours and Jason's unauthorized mission. The information you found will aid us further into our plan to take out Dr. Light and whoever he is working for. We will allow the shipment to go as scheduled, placing a tracker on it to follow it to it's target."

"I was thinking-" She was cut off once again.

"Neither of you will be joining us. You were lucky that you didn't blow our cover and ruin the entire operation. I do not appreciate deviating from procedure and I left it in Robin's hands to deal with reprimanding you for your actions since he is your leader. He tells me that he has already talked with you on the matter so I will not be discussing it further." 

"What about Jason."

"I have already dealt with him and it is none of your concern. We are done discussing this now, there is no need to waste  _ more _ time." Batman's words seemed to bite more than he was known for. Did her mission with Jason really piss him off this much?

"I understand." She felt defeated and like a child, casting her stare at the ground. 

"We think Dr. Light is working for Slade and he is definitely in a partnership with someone." Robin walked over to her and handed her the file with recent sightings of Dr. Light. She took the folder and began to read its contents.

"Slade has worked with Blood but I can't see them doing it again given that Blood almost died. Dr. Light hasn't worked with anyone until now I suppose. Slade hasn't made any noise in this part of the country for a while. He only works for self profit, a small trading deal with Dr. Light isn't high profile enough to warrant his expenses."

"Robin, have you heard from your source about Slade?" Batman had returned to the computer typing briefly before schematics of the docks appeared on the screen.

"My source says that Slade was seen about a month ago in Blüdhaven for a few days and then disappeared."

"A few days is enough time to get a shipment and plan organized. Raven, Blood has been active recently as well. Although it is unlikely they'd work together again, we can't ignore the possibility."

"Blood is back?" 

Batman's clenched fist didn't go unnoticed by Raven.  _ What was his problem _ ? Luckily Robin noticed it too and stepped in to ease the tension.

"Yes, we know he hasn't been able to build his following up to what it used to be, but we think that's what he is doing. Normally it wouldn't seem to be a major problem but-"

Raven's eyes widened at the realization. "It's all happening at the same time! This isn't a coincidence Robin… there's one thing they do all have in common... _ me _ ." 

Batman and Robin looked at each other and then at her. Robin had a guilty expression and he averted his eyes from her own and she could feel him throwing a wall up in their bond. Batman looked menacing and it started to scare her. What was happening right now? Shouldn't they be a little more concerned...unless.

"Is this a game to you Raven? We didn't summon you here for no reason. While I am  _ glad _ you have enjoyed your time in my home, I would have appreciated more time spent on research, ideas, and what their next move is. Robin has always given you high praise, but I haven't seen that you've earned it. You lack focus on the bigger picture and while it is a last resort, I will do what needs to be done to protect the lives of the innocent. I will send Alfred to give you more files to go through, until then enjoy your spare time, because when we get back I expect you to be ready to do some work."

Raven's emotions were a blizzard in her mind. She wanted to cry for the harsh way he spat his words at her, she wanted to use her powers to show that he can't intimidate her, she wanted to run back to the tower like a coward, she wanted to stand tall and tell him that she was ready for whatever he could throw at her, she wanted to do nothing for the rest of her time here just in spite of him, but she knew none of those would help her situation or actually make her feel better. She instead opted for nodding and walking toward the exit.

"Next time I see you Raven, be ready to work, and come prepared." His arms were crossed and he gave her a once over drawing her attention to the lounge wear she still had on and her lack of footwear. Her face reddened in embarrassment and she wanted nothing more to summon a portal and flee, but her powers were unstable at the moment and she had no energy left to spare. She held back tears and stood tall as she finally escaped.

Once far enough away she sobbed and ran to her room. How had that all gone so wrong? What was she supposed to say, finding out that yet again trouble was in store for her?

Raven's power began to encase everything in her room. Damn her emotions and damn Batman. The objects all around began to shake and she couldn't stop them. She was out of control. She was exhausted once more yet she had to fix this, fix everything. Even as the tears flowed down her face she tried to focus, getting into her lotus position and taking deep breaths although they still came out ragged. 

"Azarath...Metrion...Zin..Zi.." Her eyes rolled back and the world came tumbling down around her. 

…..

When Raven finally woke up, she felt empty, void of every ounce of emotion and energy. She hadn't exerted herself that much in a long time and she hated the way it made her feel. She glanced at the clock.  _ 9:57pm They're probably already gone.  _ She was out for hours and it seemed like the rest of only a few minutes. If Batman were to see her like this...no she wouldn't let him. She had to prove herself once more to him and he would regret speaking to her in that way.  _ Calm down, breathe _ . Gods she was a complete mess, a whirlwind of temper, pride, and perpetual despair. Just when she believed that a new day would refresh her world it all was washed away in dark thunderstorms. 

"Miss Raven? Are you alright in there? You didn't come down for lunch or supper. Would you mind if I came in?" Alfred's friendly voice was the ray of sunlight that broke through the clouds.

"You may come in Alfred."

He opened the door and set a tray of food and tea down on her nightstand. He looked around the room, noticing how everything had shifted and her belongings were scattered on the floor. "Miss Raven, I do not wish to offend, but you look completely exhausted. How are you feeling?"

Raven let out a brief laugh at his comment. She must have looked like shit. "I just need to rest, I've used up a lot of my energy since the mission and not allowing myself the proper time to recoup has caught up to me. I'm sorry about the room, my powers latched onto everything before I passed out."

"Oh dear Raven. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"You've done a lot already Alfred. Thank you. The food looks delicious and the tea smells amazing. I really appreciate it." She smiled at the older man and he returned the gesture. 

"If it's not too much to say, I wanted to give you  _ my _ thanks."

Her eyes went wide. "Thank me? For what?"

"For taking care of Jason, and not just his wounds. But for spending time with him and indulging in his odd ideas of entertainment, you may not be able to tell but it means more to him than you know."

"Oh...I didn't know. You're welcome I suppose. It's really no big deal, Jason can be an ass but I can tell he means well. We actually have a lot more in common than I thought. I can't say spending time with him is horrible." She reached out to the teapot and poured herself a cup. 

"Ah well, I believe that is because you haven't been around him long enough."

Raven almost spit out the sip of tea she took at Alfred's jab at Jason. She managed to swallow but laughed lightly after. 

"You're probably right about that one." She looked down into her cup and pondered for a moment. Alfred didn't make a move to leave at all. "Did Batman give you any files for me or will Robin be bringing them later?" 

"Master Wayne did instruct me to give you them yes, but you are in no state to be working right now so I did not bring them with me. Master Grayson offered but I will not have him waking you so early again. I will bring them by later when I know you have food in your stomach and at least a nap or some meditation."

"I'll be fine. Robin, I mean Richard, knows I usually wake up early anyway. He and I are always the first ones up back at the tower."

"I see, but I still stand by my statement. You said you wore yourself out, I will not allow more of that. If it's Batman you want to impress I recommend you take care of yourself first so you can physically and mentally take on whatever he will throw at you."

"Why does he hate me? I mean I know he doesn't trust metas and even worse I'm half demon but part of me thought he was past that...I guess not though." She set her cup back on the tray and absentmindedly picked at the roasted potatoes on the plate.

"Master Wayne does not hate you. He seems to be frustrated, and whether that's towards you or one of his sons I am unsure. His recent cases have been putting quite a bit of stress on him but that is no excuse to take it out on a guest."

"Am I a guest? Rob..uh I mean Richard, didn't tell me anything about missions or cases before I came here, just that Batman needed him and he needed me. I can't help but feel that Rob...fuck..shit! Oh Azar I'm sorry Alfred."

"Maybe I spoke too soon. Jason seems to have rubbed off on you a bit too much already." He chuckled and a light blush rose to Raven's face at the other meaning his words held.  _ And how true they would be _ . She covered the expression by joining him in laughing. "You were saying Miss Raven."

"I feel like Richard may have withheld important information from me, but I don't understand why he would do that to me."

"As far as I am concerned you are my guest and I enjoy your company. As far as Master Grayson goes, well, he can be very much like his mentor. Tell me why is it so important you call him Richard instead of Robin? Is it not what you're used to?"

"It is, and that's his hero name, but my first night here, Jason had said something about it and Richard got all weird and declared I should call him Richard. It was strange but I don't want Jason to upset him more or tease me for not using his real name."

"Why is it so difficult for you to do so?"

Alfred was asking the real questions tonight. "I feel like he gave me permission to satisfy Jason more so than wanting me to. I've been really close..friends with him for so long, part of me feels like I should have that right, but it doesn't feel right yet. Does that make sense?"

"It certainly does. It seems you have some things to work out with Master Grayson. He seems to have caused quite the trouble for you."

"Yeah…" Raven thoughtfully chewed on a piece of the masala chicken.  _ Gods this was delicious!  _

"Well then, I'll leave you to your supper and rest. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you. I'll come back with the work when I feel it is appropriate. Rest well." Alfred moved to the door but Raven ran over to him, startling him briefly before she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. He smiled and returned the gesture.

"Thank you Alfred. For everything. We're all very lucky to have you in our lives." She released him and took a few steps back.

"I appreciate that Miss Raven. As are we to have you." With that he left her room and shut the door behind him. She eagerly went back to her dinner and devoured the whole meal, washing it down with one of the best cups of tea she has ever had. She didn't know how she would have gotten through this trip without Alfred. He was so kind and didn't judge her, he just listened. He gave her many things to think over and she'd do just that after she slept for a bit. Well fed and finally content for the time being she willingly succumbed to sleep.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're all caught up now! Next actual update will be coming within the next couple of days! Thanks for reading!


	13. Chapter 13

**Raven's POV**

She roused from her meditation seeking out the clock on the wall. It read 2:15AM and while meditation wasn’t exactly the same as sleeping, she already felt much better. She dropped from her levitating lotus position and padded to her door. Sure enough there was a small box of files, next to it was a small container with a blueberry lemon muffin and a bottle of water. Alfred was very considerate and she appreciated the older man.

Raven picked up the items and laid them on her bed, opening the container and plucking a piece of the pastry and popping it into her mouth. It was delicious and instantly lifted her mood even more. During her meditation, she sorted her thoughts on Robin, where she held him in heart and in relation to where he held her. She faced matters that she had dreaded were coming but she couldn’t hide from reality or lie to herself. She finally acknowledged the fact that she loved Robin more than he loved her, but beyond that, they wanted different things in this relationship.

Perhaps they could resolve their issues and reach a better place, but that would require Robin to realize his emotions and take responsibility for his less than desirable actions toward her. It was a discussion that would come eventually, she herself didn’t even want to do it, she wanted to remain in her unreasonable fantasy that everything was alright between the two of them. Maybe she would have been happy remaining in an ignorant bliss...but she could no longer choose to deny herself the prospect of being happier. Whether that be with Robin or someone else. 

Raven hated to admit it, but Jason was the reason she had to have a serious conversation with herself. If she were content in her relationship with Robin, she wouldn’t have these  _ feelings _ about Jason. Not feelings of love or even lust, but rather wishing he was closer to her, wishing that she had met him earlier, even wishing that she was talking to Jason  _ instead _ of Robin. Surely she shouldn’t want another man instead of the one she loves, but at times she did. 

Yes, Jason was a flirt. He had a clear attraction to her and she too found him handsome and Lust definitely liked him, but he was still there for her and cared about her when he hardly even knew her. She instantly connected with him and a kind of friendship had already been established between the two. 

That had been part of the thing lacking in her relationship with Robin. When she got promoted to lover, they had lost a piece of their initial connection. He stopped sharing things that were bothering him, because he didn’t want to ruin their moments alone and he’d rather spend it fucking her instead of talking. And then when they had decided to keep their relationship a secret, he spent less time around her in public, afraid they would figure something out. Before they could sit next to each other on the couch or make each other tea or coffee, but suddenly that had become too risky and he withdrew from her. She missed that, the way they were. How could she ask him to go back though? Could they go back or did she just want to move on? 

When she neared the wrapper of the muffin she decided to begin working. The box of files covered the entire history of Slade Wilson, which occupied the most files, Dr. Light, of which there were only a few additional files, and some of Sebastian Blood. 

She composed notes of any trace of similarity or corresponding crimes committed between the three villains. Dr. Light seemed to be working a similar smuggling job as Slade but at a smaller level. Blood seemed to be doing his own thing and it threw a monkey wrench into her suspicions. The unlikely trio  _ had _ to be working together. It just couldn't be a coincidence that they are popping up at the same time and in the same place. 

She pulled out a recent spotting of Blood lurking in the outskirts of Blüdhaven a few days after Slade had departed, connecting them to some degree of business. Raven pulled out the few photos they have of both criminals and studied them closely. 

Slade had been walking through an empty parking garage and entering his car within a series of pictures. He hadn't been wearing his typical orange and black armor and appeared as a normal man. Blood had been photographed in an alley behind a run down bookstore. A man, who presumably worked in the store, held open the back door and Blood had turned around checking his surroundings.

Raven sighed, rubbing her eyes. Sifting through the files all over again, she added an additional note here and there but felt like she hadn't gotten far. She at least understood her purpose here and was aware of the danger the people of Gotham could be in. She uncapped her water bottle and took a swig trying to quench her brain to keep away a headache she began to feel. A few droplets flew out and landed among the files and she cursed. They had missed her notes and only had fell on the photo of Blood. She used the edge of her shirt to gently wipe away the water, annoyed at her lack of findings and the mess she almost made. She tilted the photo praying it wasn't damaged and she squinted as she noticed a small detail she had overlooked.

In the last photo of Blood entering the back door, just beyond the hem of his dark cloak, there was the heel of a shiny dress shoe. What little light surrounding the men had reflected off the patent leather material. It was dull and almost imperceptible but there was a third man in this photo. She hurried and shuffled to find the others. Sure enough a picture of Blood heading toward the back door through the alley had two shadows. One had evidently turned the corner already given the angle. This too was a subtle detail, a slightly darker patch of asphalt that would be missed if not searching for it. 

Raven decided to study Slade's pictures more closely in light of her discovery. She jumped up when she found a similar case within this set too. Reflections and shadows had been her friend. Within Slade's car, the shape of the passenger headrest seemed off, it wasn't identical to the driver's one since there was a slight slope on top. In addition. there lacked the small space between the bottom of the cushion and the top of the back support, claimed by something blocking it. In a different one, as Slade had been closing the door, at a rough 45° angle a reflection of another car off to the side could be seen. It was blocked from the photographer by the concrete supports. 

Raven was ecstatic. She had finally proven herself useful, finding an important detail that could finally aid Batman and Robin. She had to analyze the photo further to attain more details. Shadows and small glimpses of another person was a good step but she wanted to do better. She tucked the pictures back into their respective folders and grabbed a small stack and ran to the Batcave. Sleep could come later, she was focused now. 

She sneaked through the hallways of the mansion, careful not to make too much noise. Jason and Alfred were still sleeping and it was barely four in the morning. Reaching the cave, she flew to the state of the art computer and set her things on the desk space beside her. 

"What the hell?" Raven tried to work the machine but it wouldn't let her access any of the files or software. Batman must not trust her enough to give her access to more than what he wanted her to see. "Ugh, how the hell am I supposed to get anything done!" She sunk into the large leather chair and closed her eyes trying to think of another solution.

"You could ask for help, Princess." Raven jumped, startled to see Jason leaning over the railing. 

"Shit, Jason! I didn't even sense you there." 

He shrugged and leaped over the bars. "Eh, you were wrapped up in whatever this is and I was curious to see what you were up to. Last time we were in this situation it led to a very insightful and fun mission."

"I wouldn't call that mission fun." She deadpanned. "Besides we got in a hell of a lot of trouble for that."

"Yeah, well fuck them. They used the information we found and our plan!"

"Still, it was pretty reckless." She spun the chair back to face the monitor.

"Reckless and me go way back. I turned out fine!"

"You died!" Raven rolled her eyes and cast a glance over her shoulder. 

"Yeah well, I'm fine now. Peak condition."

"Yeah, sure Jason." She shook her head and dejectedly started to organize the files again.

"You know, you're not much fun sometimes. It's kind of a bummer."

"Jason, I've got things to do. Batman hates me and changed the security so I can't look up shit now. I'm not here to have fun." Her shoulders slumped and her eyes were downcast. She heard the footsteps of Jason approaching her.

"I could get you in." 

She perked up. "Really? Batman still allotts you access?" She raised her eyebrow in suspicion.

"No, Bruce doesn't trust me very much still. I've fucked him over plenty. But Dickhead is bad at changing passwords here since he isn't around often. Scooch over, let the master work his magic." He cracked his knuckles and she got out of the chair and slid it over to him. 

Jason sat down and began clicking away at the keys. Sure enough the computer came to life and most things were completely open. "Tada!" He spun around and folded his hands in his lap. "Now what exactly did you need?"

Raven pulled the photos out and handed them to him. "These photos were taken on different nights. Either by street cameras, on patrol, or by secret sources." She pointed to the series of Slade entering his car. "This one shows Slade in Blüdhaven in a supposedly empty parking garage. However, he is not alone in the car or even in the garage. You can see a figure blocking the gaps in the passenger seat headrest where it otherwise would be showing like here on the driver's side."

She flipped to another picture and pointed at the details over Jason's shoulder. "And here in the window. It's not very clear but I'm sure that's another car, what else would be in there? It's perfectly hidden behind this support column. And in the Blood photos, there's a shadow ahead of him and a leg entering the building before him."

Jason went through the pictures and examined what she had pointed out. He hummed and threw the pictures onto the desk, scooting in toward the keyboard again. After a minute or so of typing, the same pictures that held more clues popped up on screen. "I'm gonna use some software to enhance these pictures. It probably won't show much but it will give us a better idea of what is happening here."

"How long will that take?" She wanted to have this all organized and settled before Batman came back, to prove to him that she was capable of helping.

"Not long, ten minutes max. I want to make sure it focuses on the target areas, especially to see if we can get a hit on the other car."

"Naturally I'd assume it's Blood in Slade's photos and vice versa, but there's clearly another player involved."

"So what's your idea? The whole game plan of theirs?" He swiveled to face her.

"Well, we know Dr. Light is involved with the warehouses due to the initial photos of him there. We suspect Slade is running the whole operation." Raven began to pace, letting all the moving pieces come together in her mind. "However, we can see that Blood and Slade are most likely working together also. But how is Blood benefitting from weapon smuggling with Dr. Light?"

"There's something bigger though. I mean, Joker is a wild card. You don't want to work with him unless it's absolutely necessary. I don't know how Blood's doing it, or why, but it better be important enough for him to risk everything." Jason ran his hand through his hair and back down his face trying to solve a mystery of his own.

"Shit! I forgot about Joker being loose." 

Jason stopped and looked at her confused. "The Joker isn't loose. He's still locked up but we think he's making moves from inside, probably planning to escape. The warehouses that Dr. Light previously used were attached to the Joker. Now maybe he did that to throw us off but he's not that smart."

"Hmm. Wait, how is Blood connected to Joker?" It was her turn to be completely confused. 

Jason's face hardened as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "How much did they even fucking tell you?"

"Jason, I'm not in the fucking mood to be lectured by you too, I-"

"Hold it there, Sunshi-"

"No, don't tell me to hold it. I feel left out in the fucking dark on everything that's been going on." She waved her arms around raising her voice. "I already had Batman, fucking Batman, at my throat and Robin acting like a little-" Jason got out of his chair and clamped his hand over her mouth. A small squeak came out of her that quickly turned into a growl as her eyes pulsed red for a brief moment before he spoke.

"Shut the fuck up for a second! Damn woman! I'm on your side." She said something but was still muffled by his hand. "What? Oh.."

She smacked his arm away and tucked a loose strand of hair out of her face. "Why didn't you start with that dumbass." 

"I didn't quite get the chance. You almost went full demon on me!" He sounded mockingly offended.

"Sorry. I got to meditate but didn't get the chance to sleep. Anyway, proceed." She folded her arms in front of her. 

"I just want to know what you knew before you came here, everything Dickwipe said to you after our mission, and whatever else happened after that." He plopped back into the computer chair and kicked his feet onto the desk.

"Before I came, I only heard Batman tell Robin that he fears the Joker is back and that's why you're staying here. That and he is needed for the charity ball. Robin later came to me and just asked me to come with him, didn't say anything more and I didn't ask." She crossed the space recounting any details she had. 

"Then with you, I found the files on Dr. Light leading to the warehouses. When he came to talk to me, all he said was that Bruce keeps his missions guarded and they don't want to bring me in unless they have to. He said he brought me to keep him sane basically." She heard Jason mutter something that sounded like  _ that fucking lying bastard _ , but she proceeded onward. "Then he gave me those files that you saw in the library. After you were out, Robin came and asked me to come down here where Batman talked about Dr. Light working for Slade and Blood being active again. I pieced together that I think they're after me and then Batman just became irate with me. Then Alfred brought me these files and I feel like I was expected to know more." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. 

"You are supposed to know more. You should have known everything before you fucking came here. And when you didn't I expected Dickhole to actually grow a set and fill you in. The only one who's losing is you and it fucking pisses me off."

"What am I supposed to know?" She looked at him with inquisitive eyes, thankful that someone was finally willing to shed some light on her situation.

"They think it's all connected. All four douchebags teaming up. For what? We don't know. But Dr. Light was seen at those warehouses presumably pushing freight loaded with weapons that Slade usually deals. The warehouses that they moved out of and later bats broke into, there were special markings left that looked like Blood's work. Those warehouses were once used by the Joker and that Joe Flynn guy, I looked him up. Arrested for assault, possession, oh and a little robbery organized by the Joker. And now we see that Slade and Blood are popping up in the same city within the same time frame. Dr. Light is tied to Slade and Flynn, who is tied to Joker, whose warehouses are tied to Dr. Light and Blood, who finally is tied back to Slade. They're all fucking connected. And besides Joker, they all have unresolved issues with you." He was standing now facing away from her.

Raven could feel it though, his rage and frustration surging through him. The Pit scratching at the surface. He braced himself on a rail. His back clenching and his muscles tight. She gently walked over to him and tenderly placed her hand on his shoulder blade. 

"Jason, it's alright. They won't get me."

He went rigid under her fingertips. His words were tersely spoken. "That's not all."

"Then what is.." She tried to make her voice as soothing as possible as she tried to course her empathy through him.

"You're fucking bait Raven!" He promptly spun around, his eyes wild and vibrant. She let a gasp and withdrew her hand.

She was frightened, she hadn't seen him reach this point yet. His words echoed in her mind too.  _ Bait? Batman said he'd do what it takes to protect the people of Gotham but surely… _

"No...Richard wouldn't…"

"Fuck Dick. He's a piece of shit! I told him that you needed to know. I fucking told him and he turned around and fucked you instead. He's just like him. Just fucking like him." He yelled and threw the chair across the room, it loudly crashing into some equipment. 

"You know?" It was barely a whisper.

"I knew the first fucking day! I was trained under Batman too! Fuck!" He took another step away from her. "I need to leave, you can't be near me!"

"Let me help!" She moved toward him.

"No!"

"Jason let me fucking help!" Before he had a chance to process her words, she was in front of him, hands on his temples. She chanted her mantra and felt the Pit fight back. He groaned and she grit her teeth. She willed the Pit away and unleashed her empathy, sending a tsunami of calm and ease through his mind and body. Within minutes his breathing slowed and his muscles relaxed. She felt drained once again but it was important she helped him. 

Raven opened her eyes and dropped one hand to his shoulder and let the other slide down to his cheek. His warm hand found hers and covered it while his head leaned into her palm. His eyes opened slowly and they showed guilt and sorrow in the otherwise turquoise depths. "You're alright Jason. It's ok. You weren't going to hurt me."

"But you're still hurt." She knew what he meant. His gaze fell to the floor. "You used all your energy on me."

"It's not your fault Jason. You didn't put me in this situation. And my energy can be replenished. I'll always help those I care about." She smiled at him and he bent down to rest his forehead against hers. 

"I'm sorry. I could have told you what I knew. I shouldn't have let him play around with you like that."

"You thought he'd do the right thing. I can't say I would be any happier if this happened sooner. It would have put a damper in our breaktime together." She chuckled lightly and saw a smile grow on his face.

His hand went to her waist and he pulled her in. She draped her arms around him and melted into his warmth. Raven didn't hug people freely, Starfire and Garfield forced their hugs and otherwise she'd only given them out on special occasions. But she gladly accepted his, he needed it and it felt right. She pulled back slightly and looked up at him. His eyes met hers and she felt his every emotion flow from him. 

Her eyes widened and the intensity of his stare told her more than words could have at that point. She allowed him to cup her face and pull her in.

Just like his embrace, she melted into his kiss. It was slow but powerful. Jason's lips were softer than she expected, they were addicting and were begging her for more. She clutched his shirt and deepened the kiss and his hand tangled in her hair pulling her closer.

This. This is what she longed for. To be wanted and appreciated. Was it wrong? Raven didn't care, for all the good she did in her life, she deserved to be reckless, if not, she deserved this one wrong moment that she couldn't help but feel was the one  _ right _ thing she did since she'd been here. 

So she kissed him back with everything she had and the only thought she had was that Jason Todd was a fucking  _ amazing  _ kisser _. _


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's back, been out of town and wanted to crank out another chapter to my damirae fic on tumblr as well. I'm so excited that you all are enjoying my story and I love all the comments. I don't respond to them directly because I don't want to give anything away, just know that we've got a long way to go and it'll all come together in the end! xoxo

**Jason POV**

_ Holy shit!  _ Jason's mind was in shambles for it had been completely blown away at the first second his lips touched Raven's. This was it, this is the moment he'd been waiting for,  _ dreaming for _ . Though he never thought it would come to pass, here he was, pouring everything this woman had made him feel into this kiss. He wanted to break through her walls and flood her empathy so there would be no doubt in her mind about how he felt. He knew all too well what she had been going through and he sure as hell wasn't planning on continuing that emotional suffering.

He hadn't planned it, fuck, he didn't even see it coming. He'd seen her trying to work the computer, he offered his help, then he lost control of his emotions and the pit when he found out what he'd been dreading had actually occurred.  _ Dick lied again and didn't fucking tell her shit.  _

The Pit was there, almost free and he was so scared to be in that room with Raven. He didn't want to hurt her but he couldn't control himself. He was pissed, he wanted to punch and kick and basically fucking kill Dick or whoever was to piss him off next. He warned her to keep her distance, this is why he didn't want anyone close, ever. He hated himself when he was like this, outraged and out of control, a monster waiting to be unleashed. 

But then a light shone through the dark clouds in his mind. Warmth coursed through his veins, slowly cooling the fiery rage he felt and easing him back to normal. He felt his body relax and she was there holding him. She saved him and put herself out to keep the monster within him at bay. He had apologized for all the things he wished he did better and Raven hadn't blamed him for any of it. She was a fucking angel and he felt compelled to hug her.

Jason Todd didn't fucking hug anyone. But this felt right, she was small in his arms but she fit so perfectly. He knew she wasn't keen on such an embrace either but she didn't protest and it made him feel special. Then that turned into the fucking mind-blowing kiss and he'd probably never experience anything better.

_ Beep.  _ "Auto-Enhancement completed. Files ready." The computer announced.

_ Fuck you batcomputer, ruining the fucking moment.  _ They broke from the kiss and he swore he had never seen such a beautiful sight. Raven's lips were red and slightly swollen, her pale face was heated with a blush spread across her cheeks, and her eyes wide as she stared up at him. He grinned down at her and brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face.  _ This moment right here _ . 

Her eyes darted away and she lightly cleared her throat and licked her lips.  _ Fuck it was so inviting. _ He wanted to dive back in but he didn't want to push his luck, so instead he took a step back.

"That was unexpected." Raven took a breath and doubled the space between them. For a second Jason panicked, thinking that she had regretted the moment between them. She must have sensed it or seen the smile on his face falter because she then added, "Nice, but unexpected. I don't regret anything Jason, not the kiss, and certainly not helping you. I will always be there for you." She smiled at him and he could have died a happy man.

"Trying to get in my pants already little bird? I ain't that easy...well for you I could be." He winked at her, while the smile fell from her face and was replaced with an unamused look accompanied by an eye roll. 

"Really Jason? Are you purposely trying to ruin the moment?"

He chuckled and walked backwards toward the computer. "Sorry Sunshine, I had to do something to divert the sexual tension. Don't want the broody bunch to walk in on us. Besides I remember a certain someone keen on finishing her work to prove herself. Don't want my irresistibility to get in the way of that." 

"Oh no, definitely not. I'm glad you said something. My lack of control of lust for you was just  _ so _ overwhelming, it could have ruined everything." She deadpanned, following him to the console. 

Jason laughed as he sat down in the chair and began to open the files up. The series of photos were displayed on screen next to each other, all with clearer images. "Let's see what the Little Bird dug up in her nest." 

"There." Raven pointed to the picture of Slade entering his car in the garage. The picture was almost the same but now the reflection on the door clearly showed another car had been on the same level. 

"It's gotta be a Pontiac." 

He saw her head snap to him in surprise. "How do you know that? The reflection isn't that clear."

"The headlights. Quad headlights, vertically stacked." Jason shrugged as if that information was common knowledge.

"You can tell just by the headlights?"

"Well it certainly narrows it down, but also look here." He leaned in and gestured to the middle of the reflection. "You can kinda see where the grille breaks, making two separate parts. It isn't exclusive to Pontiac, but my bet is that it is one." 

"Impressive, I'm glad I let you stay." She smirked down at him. "Can we find out who owns one of those in Gotham or Blüdhaven?"

"Please, you insult the Batcomputer. I'll work on that in a bit, let's get everything we can from these first and move on to secondary research after."

"Is that logic I'm hearing coming from Jason Todd?" She feigned shock and he rolled his chair into her. 

"Keep up the jokes, Sunshine. I might just walk right out of here with my passwords and new lead." 

Raven's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare. You wouldn't risk losing your shot to get in my pants." 

He laced his fingers and brought them to his chin. "Well played. Although I gotta admit, I hate playing the long game. I'll do it, but I don't like it."

"Long game?" Her eyebrow quirked. 

"I can't fuck with you until you end whatever you've got going with dipshit, sorry, Dickhead. It's good to know I have a chance though." 

She remained silent and stared at a fixed point on the screen. Jason sighed realizing his mistake. "Don't get me wrong Princess. I definitely want to fuck you. I think I've made that abundantly clear, and I've meant it every time. But I don't want to be the other guy, nor do I want you to be that woman. I can't let Dick have a way to make himself the victim. Besides, I'm not entirely sure what's happened between you two but I don't want to start this...us, too soon and have it fail because one of us wasn't ready. I want it to work and I sure as hell am gonna give it my best shot. So, as much as I want to dive in, I think it's best to settle your relationship with him first, take some time for yourself to heal, and I'll be waiting when you're ready." 

The look on her face shifted from surprise to admiration and she bent down and pecked his lips. “That’s...very thoughtful of you. All jokes aside, I wasn’t expecting that. I guess I’m not used to someone putting my feelings ahead of their own. Thank you, really Jason. Your words mean a lot to me. I just hope I don’t disappoint.” She leaned against the desk with her hands grabbing the edge on either side of her, looking at the monitor over her shoulder as she was lost in thought.

“You could never disappoint me Sunshine. You’ve got more than enough wiggle room, It’s a pretty low bar.” He brought his arms behind his head and leaned back looking up at the ceiling. He wasn’t kidding, almost everyone in his life up until this point has let him down in one way or another. He had almost forgotten what it felt like to trust someone or rely on them, being thankful for their presence. Raven had been one of the few exceptions to his hatred of pretty much everyone. 

She had saved him from the Pit multiple times now and she never asked for anything in return and never expected more from him. She didn’t pity him and she understood him more quickly than anyone else had. He had silently hoped that it wouldn’t be him that disappointed her. 

Jason took a deep breath to clear his mind and dropped his arms as he looked back at Raven. She had a faint smile and inhaled deeply wrapping up her own thoughts. She placed her hand on top of his shoulder and gave it a small squeeze, the gesture saying more than words could in that moment. If nothing else, they understood each other. 

“Let’s get back to work and bring these assholes down.” She bounced off the desk and grabbed the files with her notes. 

“That’s my girl!” Jason grinned at her. “What’s next? We’ve got two mystery people in this one with Slade, one extra shadow here that belongs to the leg in this one, honestly my best guess is that they’re with each other.”

Raven flipped a few pages and scanned the information in the documents. “That would be the easy guess wouldn’t it?” She sighed. “But look at the shoe and pants. They don’t scream paid assassin.”

“Hey don’t judge, he might have been feeling particularly fancy that night, you know, new job and all. Gotta make an impression.” He laughed but immediately stopped when he saw Raven’s less than amused face. He was pushing his luck now. 

“Ha ha, can we focus now. Even if he wanted to be ‘fancy’ for a night, it isn’t the right body type or shoe size in this photo.”

“Yeah I suppose not.”

“It’s strange, you can narrow down the possibilities of vehicles in the blurred  _ reflection _ of a car, but you can’t tell that’s not Slade?” She cocked her hip and shook her head. 

“Hey, in my defence, I really like cars and I don’t really like studying Slade’s body type.”

“Whatever. Whoever it is, they probably are connected to one of the people in the other picture.”

“Is it possible that it’s just some lackey of one of them? Blood always has some right hand guy.”

“It could be, but how well dressed does he require his guards to be? I doubt it’s some henchmen in Slade’s case, he works alone or with his robots.”

“Great, back to square one then. I might as well just run the car type and figure that one out, it will give us a better clue. Best to have another piece done since B and Dick will be back soon.” He began typing away again, filling in a search for any Pontiacs in the area. He looked at Raven who was rubbing her temple probably from all the stress and lack of sleep. “I got this, why don’t you go lay down until they get back, I’ll come get you.”

“No, that will give the wrong impression. Remember I’m trying to look more responsible and dedicated. I’m just going to get some tea and put my uniform on, I don’t want him to see me in the cave still wearing this.” She made her way to the exit and laid the file from her hand on the nearby counter. 

Jason leaned back in the chair and called out to her “I don’t mind the outfit.” He heard muffled laughter and she held up her middle finger earning a laugh from him.

He plugged information into the remaining fields on the program and ran it. He hoped he was right, if he was then they would be one step closer to putting all the pieces together so Bruce and Dick could shove it where the sun doesn't shine. He spun around in the chair and whistled as he waited. Jason debated whether he wanted to be here when they came back from their mission, well technically his and Raven’s since they got the intel and came up with the plan, but fuck him right?

He was so sick of everyone’s shit, Dick’s in particular, and Bruce’s was a close second. He had only come back to the mansion because Bruce had told him that Joker’s old warehouses were being used and that he wanted him close in case anything were to happen. Of course they looked into the files and recordings from Arkham and saw that Joker was indeed still locked up, but they decided to play it safe. He would have left by now, but he had to go and get interested in Raven. That was completely unforeseen but he didn’t mind it anymore.

What he did mind was that he kept getting into arguments and fights with Dick over her. It was a never-ending cycle, well until now. Oh how he couldn’t wait to see Dick’s pathetic face when she breaks up with him. It would be a first for Dick. Had he given a shit about his ‘brother’ in this situation, he might even say he was scared for him because Raven could be quite intimidating if you pissed her off. He would know, as Red X, pissing people off was his specialty. But Dick deserved every fucking second of torture that she could rain upon him and he would be sure to offer support  _ or help _ . 

In any case, it was bound to be really fucking awkward until they had the time to talk. Speaking of the dickhead, Jason heard the Batmobile closing in on the cave. Sure enough a few seconds later they pulled in, except it seems Bruce didn’t care that it was a bit crooked. In a flash, Batman jumped out of the car and flew around to the passenger side hauling a bloodied Robin out of the seat.  _ I guess that talk with Raven is gonna be postponed, lucky break.  _ Jason ran to support Dick’s other side and they carried him to the medbay. 

“What the fuck happened?” Jason heaved the unconscious Dick onto the table, trying to assess the wounds.

“Security was reinforced more than we expected. Dr. Light, Slade bots, and some other armed guards had set up a wide perimeter.” He began stripping the soiled and torn suit from Dick’s body and took off his own cowl. Jason ran and grabbed the supplies waiting to see the damage. 

One of Raven’s portals opened near them and a scared Raven appeared out of it in costume. “Azar.” She whispered to herself. Jason saw the fear in her eyes as they looked over Dick’s almost lifeless form. “What’s wrong with him? What happened?” She approached them, hands already glowing to heal.

Bruce glared momentarily at her, deciding whether to waste time explaining or even allowing her to help. Bruce’s eyes fell back to Dick’s for a moment before he answered. “A few gunshot wounds, one went clear through the other is still inside in his lower abdomen. Dr. Light also got a hit on him on his back, there’s burning there and on his leg. Additional minor injuries include fractured ribs, dislocated shoulder, and concussion.” He had been applying pressure to Dick’s wounds and had prepped for removing the bullet.

“When did he dislocate his shoulder? Was that before or after the gunshots?” Jason tried to add a lighter tone to the situation at hand, but it fell flat. 

Bruce scowled at him but answered anyway, “A Slade bot knocked him off a roof and he barely caught hold of a rail when the bot latched onto him as well. Raven, can you heal him?”

Her hands were shaking but she nodded and proceeded closer to the injured Robin. She placed her hands first over the wound with the bullet and the spot glowed with her magic flowing in and extracting the bullet. The metal clink of it when she dropped it on the tray was the only sound in the room besides the natural whirring of the machines around them and the various intensities of breathing from each person in the room. 

Alfred had come in at this point and muttered a quiet “Oh my” before standing prepared for anything behind them all. The healing process was slow, but Raven was focused on the task at hand. The bullet had caused a lot of internal bleeding and damage and was a tedious process, or so she said when Bruce had questioned the slowness of her actions. 

Jason looked at her concentrated face and cursed. Sweat dotted her brow and silent tears rolled down her cheeks.  _ Fuck _ . She still loved the asshole that she was healing and it fucking sucked to see her in such emotional pain. Jason knew it was selfish of him, but he wished that this near death experience didn’t allow Dick any excuses to hurt or fuck with Raven again, it would probably kill him to have to witness that. 

She had moved on to the less vital injuries, but now her body would pulse in a faint blue light every couple of minutes. He figured it was her body trying to come up with the power to keep the healing process going, or it was her own body healing from taking on some of the injury to quicken the process. He had done some research on her powers after she had healed him a few nights ago and he learned that it was easier to heal herself, so with larger injuries she would take it in to relieve the other person of pain more quickly. If that didn’t work, she was known to draw energy from her sort of other energy reserves to finish the process as he understood it. Either way it sucked for her and it was hard for him to watch her tire herself out.

In fact, it really pissed him off because had he or Raven, or fuck, both of them been allowed to go, this would have never happened guaranteed. They were outmatched and could have used backup but both of their fucking fragile egos stopped them from calling anyone in. Jason felt like saying 'fuck you' to them and hauling Raven over his shoulder and back to her bed, but he knew she would never abandon a friend in need so he would stick it out with her too. 

Little by little Dick was being patched up and he had already looked significantly better, his breathing was less labored and the burns and bruises had dissipated. She had Bruce stitch up and bandage the remaining wounds from the bullets once they were stable so she could move on to the other injuries. Jason had happily volunteered to pop his shoulder back in place but was quickly disappointed when Raven immediately pieced the strained and torn ligaments together with her magic. He wanted Dick to suffer just a bit at least, but no he was almost in tip top shape again.

Finally Raven had pulled back and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and exhaled. "All done, the only problem he needs to worry about is the soreness when he wakes up and those stitches." She turned her face away from them and tried to discreetly wipe away her tears but Jason had already seen them.

"When will he wake up? Does he still have a concussion?" Bruce was cleaning the dried blood surrounding the wounds. Jason seethed and glared at Bruce.  _ Not even a fucking thank you for saving my fucking douche bag sidekick?  _

"No, I took care of that too. My guess is that he will be asleep for the next few hours. He might have a small headache from having me poke around his brain." 

"I thought there were no side effects to your healing." Bruce snapped.

"It's a fucking headache and soreness, he would have had it either way at least now he can be alive to feel it. She just saved his fucking life, show some goddamn gratitude." Jason threw the bandages he was holding on to the counter knocking some supplies off and onto the floor. 

"Jason, it's ok."

"He's right Raven. You did well, thank you for healing him. Alfred, look after Dick until he wakes up. I need to document this and look into my other reports."

"Yes, Master Wayne. I'll fetch him some fresh clothes and will be back shortly." Alfred left the cave and Bruce headed towards the computer.

Jason approached Raven watching as her body trembled slightly. Her face looked paler than normal and she held onto the edge of the table for support. He touched her shoulder causing her to look up at him, she looked exhausted. "Are you alright?"

"I...I'm fine, just need to catch my breath." She sent him a small smile that disappeared a second after it came. 

"Raven," Bruce had been looking at the files they had left out. "Were you able to compile any additional information regarding these files?"

Raven spun around and took a step forward out of Jason's grasp. "Oh yes, I…" 

Jason reacted quickly when he saw her eyes roll back and her body begin to slump. "Raven!" He dove forward and caught her in his arms. 

Bruce quickly rose to his feet. "Is she alright?"

"No she's not fucking alright Bruce! She just used all her fucking energy healing that dumbass over there. On top of her barely sleeping becuse you decided to make her feel like shit and dumped a fuck ton of files on her. I'm taking her to her room and I don't want anyone to disturb her until she's rested." He lifted her to carry her bridal style. 

"Jason, I appreciate her healing Dick and it's unfortunate that it takes a toll on her, however her lack of sleep that contributed to her condition now is her own doing. We all make sacrifices and yet we are still expected to be prepared for more. We can't lose any more time on this case. I want her back here as soon as she wakes, I expect her to be and I will send Alfred to check on her to ensure she complies to that order." His tone was stern and so Jason decided to let it go for now, he was sure his arms weren't the most comfortable place to rest and he figured Raven wouldn't want him to fight all her battles. Without another word he carried the sleeping Raven through the manor to her room and laid her down, adjusting the pillow underneath her and draping the blanket over her. 

He took one last look and brushed a loose strand of hair off her forehead before leaving her to rest. He then straightened and stormed back toward the cave. 

Once inside he marched over to the desk and picked up every file that Raven had made notes in and he shoved Bruce out of the way of the computer. 

"Jason, enough. What are you doing?"

He ignored him and set the files to download onto his flash drive and deleted them from the system once they were done. 

"Jason!" Bruce moved to stop him once he realized what he was doing.

"Back off Bruce. You'll get them back, I just don't want you poking around her work without her here. She deserves at least that much." The computer chimed when all their work had been successfully transferred to the flash drive. Jason deleted what was left and picked up the stack of files.

"Raven's presence is not necessary to read the information."

"No, but her insight and connections are. This can't be the only thing you're working on now, so just do whatever the hell else and we'll get back to you. Clearly you can't think it's that important if you assign the task to someone you hardly trust. I'm sure you'll manage without this for a few hours." With that Jason fled the cave and headed towards Raven's room again. 

He placed the files on her dresser and settled into the chair next to the window. This morning was a fucking wild ride and he was ready to get off of it already. He watched Raven as she slept, watching the rise and fall of her chest with every breath. He wished that she could catch a fucking break for once. Leave it to Dick to fuck her up without even being conscious.

Jason then turned his attention to the window and imagined what the scenery would look like if it could reflect the emotions of the day. Probably fucking gloomy as shit because he knew that things were going to get a lot shittier before they got better, it was just a matter of time before everything blew up in their faces. 

Whoop di fucking do, bring it on.

  
  



	15. Chapter 15

**Raven POV:**

_Blood...so much blood. It was warm and oozing, burning her cool skin. It was too much, she couldn’t help him. He had taken too many blows...he was so pale...too pale. No, no, no. Wake up, come back. Don’t leave me!_

_“Raven!” Huh? Who was calling her? What kind of sick joke was this? She was all alone...all alone, nobody would be calling out to her, because the only person here besides her was dead in her arms. Tears ran down her face, she was sure she’d drown in them and the growing pool of blood around her. She was too late and no one was there to help him._

_“_ Raven, wake up! It’s ok! You’re dreaming.” She was being shaken and she was pulled out of the vivid nightmare. Stormy eyes met hers as she abruptly sat up while panting. Real tears had sprung from her eyes and it was much hotter in her room and half under the covers, in contrast to wherever she had been where the emptiness around her and the lifeless body were nothing but cold. Her body was exhausted and she was drenched in sweat, dark strands stuck stubbornly to her forehead and she couldn’t seem to get enough oxygen. 

“Breathe Rae, you’re fine. It wasn’t real.” _Oh how it felt so real._ Jason was brushing her hair off her forehead and rubbing her back. 

“Blood...there was so much blood.” Her hands raked through her hair and she tried to wipe the tears away, but they were quickly replaced with fresh streams. 

“It’s ok, Dick is fine.” Jason sounded like he was trying to be reassuring but there was a certain bitterness behind his words.

“Dick? He is ok?” Her breathing began to return to normal and the tears had subsided. Raven was still trying to figure out where reality stopped and where the nightmare had begun.

“Yeah, as much as I wished you left him with some more pain, he is in tip top shape. Asshole is probably already awake from his beauty sleep.” He glared off to the side of the room, trying to shove his anger down so that she wouldn’t feel it. It was no use.

“I’m glad he is recovering well.” She sniffled and wiped at her eyes, her muscles ached and protested against her movements. Raven grimaced and rolled her shoulders back, trying to relieve some of the tension there. Jason must have noticed because he then maneuvered around her and began massaging her back and shoulders.

“The more important matter, however, is if you are alright.” If she were to answer honestly, she’d say _hell no_. She felt completely drained and everything seemed to catch up with her, All the stress, the lack of mediation and sleep, the stubborn determination to prove Batman wrong, healing Robin...it was all so very draining. But she couldn’t let anyone in on her true feelings, she didn’t want to show weakness, not here, not ever. Although she felt like Jason would understand to an extent, everything just was hectic in her mind, there were too many emotions to sort through and so much that needed to be taken care of, to be said...she had to figure it out on her own. 

She opted to answer a simple, “I’m fine.” She melted into Jason’s hands sighing as the release of various knots along her muscles. It would have been relaxing if Jason’s pressure hadn’t begun to increase or his emotions hadn’t started to invade her mind. She was about to address the situation when his hands retreated from her form and he got up and moved across the room. “Jason, I can feel your frustration and anger. What’s the problem?”

“The problem? The problem is that you can’t tell me the truth. I don’t need fucking telepathic emotional reading to know that you’re lying.” He huffed.

She couldn’t help the giggle that bubbled out. “Telepathic emotional reading? Did you mean my empathic abilities, or you know...empathy?”

“Don’t be a smartass, I’m frustrated and could’t think of the fucking word, forgive me. Point is, you don’t need to lie to me. Maybe you’re used to it with Dickhead, but I’m not him.” He crossed his arms and scowled at the floor.

“Low blow Jason.” Raven scoffed and threw her legs over the side of the bed, pausing at the lightheadedness that invaded her. 

“Look, I’m sorry that didn’t come out right.” His eyes softened and he took a step in her direction.

“Save it.” Her head snapped up at him, stopping him in his tracks. “You want the truth? Although I don’t need to tell you anything. I’ll tell you the truth. I feel like fucking shit. Is that what you want to hear? I’m exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally. I put every ounce of energy I had to heal Richard. I know you don’t like him-”

“That’s a fucking understatement.” Jason rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest again. 

Raven stood up and wobbled slightly holding a hand up to stop Jason before he even made a move to help her. She turned to him and continued, “Whatever, how you feel about him or us is irrelevant. I chose to heal him. I chose to give my energy to him. Yes, it put me out. Yes, I still need to recover. But I would do it again and again. Putting the fact that he is my leader, a teammate, and boyfriend or whatever you want to call it aside, he is my friend. My best friend. I would choose his life over mine any day, as I would for most others. So what if I need to rest longer, miss a meal and meditate more. If that meant he was okay, then that’s fine by me. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“You’re right, I don’t understand. I’m fine that you didn’t let him die, you’re a hero, that’s what you do. But I’m not fine with you putting him before yourself and putting him on a goddamn pedestal. You’re fucking ‘best friend’ my ass. From what I’ve seen, he treats you like shit. So yeah, save him, whatever, I don’t give a fuck. But don’t do more than you need to for that asshole and then don’t fucking lie to me about how it affected you.” They both took steps toward one another and now were staring each other down face to face.

“You’ve benefitted plenty from my going above and beyond healing you. I put my friends before me because that’s the way I chose to live my life. Robin has always had my back, and I trust that he always will. You see only the things you want to see, all the bad, only the bad. He is not perfect, he can be an asshole. What he has done to me since being here is not okay with me. But it’s for me to decide how I approach it and how I let it affect our relationship. Our relationship has progressed to what it is now because we started out as best friends, even if we end the romantic part of our relationship, he will still be my friend and understand me in a way no one ever has before. I don’t want to lie to you Jason. But like right now, if I tell you the truth, I can feel everything you are feeling. I can tell that you regret bringing up Richard like this, that you didn’t like what I had to say. You wanted me to be honest so bad, now that you’ve heard my truth, you wish you hadn’t.” She turned away from him, wrapping her arms around herself. 

“Raven,” He spoke gently, “I may not like what you have to say, but I always want you to be able to tell me the truth. Yeah, you’ve only really known me outside of my Red X persona for less than a week, but I feel like I’ve built a connection faster with you than with anyone else in my whole fucking life. You say Dick knows you like no one else, but maybe it’s because you haven’t let anyone try. Let me try.” She could feel his desire to reach out and touch her, hesitation filled him and in the end that contact was never made. 

Raven took a deep breath and stepped further away from him. “I think we need to calm down a bit. Tensions are high with what’s going with the case and my emotions are still...out of control. Arguing right now is pointless.”

She heard Jason inhale and release his breath with a conceedeing sigh. “Fine. Have it your way.” He threw the door open and paused briefly and spoke over his shoulder, “I kept the files we were working on away from Bruce so you could explain them and prove yourself. The flash drive and files are on your dresser. He was pissed off at me, but I didn’t give a shit. He’s probably waiting for them, so I’ll be down there trying to do some damage control before you get there.” 

“Jason-” The door closing cut her off. _Way to push the one of the only ones here that was on your side through everything._ She groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. Jason had been there for her when Robin wasn’t and she just defended him and said Jason’s feelings were irrelevant. She was being stupid, as she always was when it came to Robin. She despised being called out like that so she reacted accordingly, but it was still a bit uncalled for. Still, Jason was starting to get on her nerves. He had been so forthcoming with his thoughts and feelings and expected the same from her, but that’s just not how she operates. He wasn’t getting it and now he was essentially pouting because her problems weren’t magically solved so quickly. Things were just not going to be as black and white as he wanted, he had to see that eventually.

Jason wanted the truth and she hadn’t lied to him. Robin was her best friend and even after all the shit he put her through, she would still give her life for him. What she omitted is that she knew she’d always love him no matter what their relationship status was. Thus far, he had been her first and only love. It was such a strong emotion for Raven to develop and accept that she knew she would never be able to shake it. Perhaps she could move on and accept necessary room for another love, but the bond she had with Richard was further fortified when she realized and attached her love for him. That was the main thing Jason would never understand. Hell, she barely understood it herself, she wasn’t even sure if Robin knew about it either. 

Deciding that she had wasted enough time trying to recoup her energy and then arguing with Jason, she glanced at the clock noting that it was well into the afternoon. She hastily took a shower, cleansing her body of the remnants of her nightmare and headed back down to the Batcave. As promised, Jason was beside Bruce talking animatedly with his hands. Both looked to be irritated with the other, yet neither left the conversation. On the other side of the space was Dick sitting on the med table hunched over. 

As soon as the door closed announcing her entrance, all heads snapped to her, but only two sets of eyes held their gaze in her direction. One had been filled with scorn and the other was a mixture of relief and guilt. Her eyes instinctively moved to meet Robin’s, giving him a slight nod before making her way toward Bruce and Jason. 

“Raven. Glad to see you have recovered well.” Bruce’s voice was even and stern, his words didn’t carry any sincerity. Internally Raven wanted to scream and explain herself and why she didn’t deserve such coldness, but the time would come for that. Until then she just had to suck it up and accept that Bruce was in the dark about the more personal situations surrounding his guests and thus was acting appropriately given the circumstances, albeit he was being a little too harsh. 

“Yes, I’ll be fine. I’m just happy that Richard is making a quick recovery.”

He shot her a grateful smile. “All thanks to you Rae. You saved my life, and I know it took a lot out of you, so thank you. I’m very grateful to have you here and have received your help.” He took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. When her eyes met his again, they held so much more than the relief and guilt she felt earlier. These were the ocean deep pools of unspoken words and emotions she fell in love with. That familiar gleam to them made her insides flutter like she was fifteen again. 

Jason cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention to him. He approached the two birds and snatched the files and flash drive out of Raven’s hands. “Great, now that we established that we’re all feeling just dandy, we can brief you on the new information we found while Dick was getting his ass kicked.” Richard just rolled his eyes and shook his head as he followed Jason to the computer. They spent the next twenty minutes reviewing the files and images, explaining the small details in the photos and what they meant.

To her surprise, Bruce looked impressed. He had stated that he was certain there was no useful information held in the pictures and was shocked to see the small details he seemed to have overlooked. “Did you get identification of the owner of the vehicle?” Bruce had asked. 

Raven looked to Jason who had made a point to avoid eye contact with her. He leaned over the keyboard and pulled up the search results, a list of about seventy names popped up all residing somewhere within Bludhaven and Gotham. “Not any definitive answers. Who knew there were this many car collectors in this area, specifically of Pontiacs. I mean, there’s plenty of better cars to own than those.” The other faces in the room all gave him a dull expression, choosing to ignore Jason’s lame humor. “Ok, right down to business, bunch of fucking sticks in the mud.” He mumbled to himself.

“Do any of the names link to one of our guys? Any of them seem familiar?” Richard scanned the screen, squinting at the list. 

“That’s the thing, all of the names are extremely common, and none supposedly have broken a single law, gotten a ticket, or even have a report on file of maintenance. That only means one thing.”

Raven spoke up this time, “This records have been doctored. Someone doesn't want this car to be traced to anyone. Is every name on this list an actual resident or are they entirely fake?”

Bruce typed a few commands into the computer and it pinged when the results loaded. “It appears that there is verified federal identification matching thirty six of these names that are confirmed residents. The other names seem to be bots.”

“Fan-fucking-tastic, we can each track down nine and see what information we can rustle up.” Jason clapped his hands and cracked his knuckles, pushing away from the computer.

“No, Jason. We can’t just interrogate each one without cause. It may give away our upper hand and we will not terrorize innocent people.” Bruce swiveled around, his voice authoritative, leaving no room for protest.

“I wasn’t saying terrorize everyone, just the ones that say they don’t know anything...they always know something when they say that.” He gave a devilish grin.

“Or they actually don’t know anything.” Richard interjected looking from Bruce to Jason.

“What would you know, birdbrain?” 

“I know how to lead a mission and get information without being a lunatic criminal.” He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

Jason closed the space between them, jaw clenched, and fury radiating off of him. “You don’t know jack shit about leading, your team has had more arguments and splits than actual important missions that you were in charge of, you sure are one hell of a leader that doesn’t tell his teammates vital fucking information, and then you compile a shitty ass report of a dock that had way more security than you realized and tried to condemn me and Raven for helping your dumb ass out. And that’s being super fucking vague. I could go on, the list is quite extensive.”

“Why are you even here Jason? You clearly have a problem with being here and are always angry. You’ve done nothing but get in everyone’s way, complain about laying low when it was you that tucked your tail between your legs when you thought Joker might be back, you’ve endangered Raven-”

“Oh shove it up your ass Dick. You know why I have a problem and it certainly isn’t being back at the manor, and you don’t even give a flying fuck about Raven-”

“Are we doing this again Jay?”

“Yeah we’re fucking doing this.”

Both men dropped into a defensive position. Raven spared a quick glance at Bruce, who was rather confused and shocked by the events before him. Even he had stood up at this point and was assessing the space around them, configuring a plan. Raven however didn’t want to waste anytime. She jumped between them and threw up a black energy shield coming between her and Jason. His enraged face fell to a look of almost hurt followed by betrayal and then quickly replaced with a wall of anger again. His eyes locked with hers momentarily and he let out a humorless laugh.

“Enough!” Her eyes were glowing in warning. Jason looked in the opposite direction, folding his arms across his chests. “You two need to take a breath and try to focus on the mission at hand. And I swear the next time either of you bring my name into your pissing match will be the last.”

“Would any of you care to explain to me why my two sons were about ready to kill each other?” Bruce stood between them as another buffer.

“For one thing, I’d hardly consider myself your son. And you can try to get one of them to tell you, because I apparently am irrelevant to the going ons of those two.” Jason spat and approached Bruce, placing his hand on his shoulder and mock whispering his next words, “But be careful, neither of them are into telling the full truth, and one of them doesn’t want to accept the truth, but maybe she’ll listen to you.” He patted Bruce’s shoulder and stormed to the computer once more typing something in. 

“Jason! Really?” Raven was aghast at his behavior. What did she do this time? _You jumped in front of Robin and protected him again when Jason was trying to defend your honor._ Crap...that explained why she felt betrayal radiate off him. 

Richard glared daggers into the back of Jason’s head moving to Raven’s side. She however countered his movement and earned a confused look from Robin.“Leave it alone Rae, let him bitch and have his tantrum.” 

“Why you little fucker!” Jason abruptly spun around and Raven pushed against his solid chest while Bruce held Richard back.

“Boys, You’re done! Jason you’re staying down here with me and we are going to sort out these names. Dick, Raven, there is nothing we need from you right now, you both still need to rest. Dick I want you to brief Raven on everything that happened last night once you both have regained your energy. This is not up for debate. I expect an explanation from someone before patrol, so you may want to have all your answers straight.” 

His command was met with silence and not a single set of eyes sought another as they all moved to follow orders. Richard made it to the door first, holding it open for Raven to pass through. As she was crossing the threshold she heard Jason grunt and she turned back to watch his gaze drop from her, fists clenched and shaking his head. 

_What has she done?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a few hours overdue, forgive me. I hope you enjoyed and are ready for what is inevitably going to come in the next chapter! Thank you for reading!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! It's been a while since the last update and I'm really sorry about that. School started up and i've been bogged down with work. If you don't follow me on tumblr, I've posted a new timeline for my works. I'm working on a very long robrae fic (something like 81 chapters) and I want to have that done by the end of this month. I put all stories on temp hiatus except Just Business now, and I plan to update at least once in oct. but most likely twice and then I hope to go back to twice a month regularly starting in November. Please stick with me, I just have a lot going on, but I appreciate all the love and support. This took some time to write because it is entirely dialogue but super important to the story. This update was meant to be for september but it didn't upload for some reason, so there still will be another one or two this month! Thanks!

**Raven POV**

_What has she done?_

Raven silently followed Robin down the halls, her mind playing alternate scenarios that would have left everyone in a better situation than they were all in currently. She was zoned out until her shoulders made contact with something and a faint voice slipped into her ears.

“Huh?” Robin held her by her arms and a look of concern rested on his face. 

“You were following me but didn’t respond to anything I was saying. Is everything ok?”

_Seriously? No, everything is not ok. How could he think it was?_ “Robin, you know as well as I do that everything is going to shit.” He visibly recoiled, “ Don’t act surprised, how long did you think you could get away with this act you’ve been playing? Did you really think I was dumb enough to fall for it forever?” The sharpness in her words seemed to bite through his calm exterior. His eyes shifted around, probably trying to come up with an escape plan. 

“Raven-”

“We just need to tell him everything.”She turned around and began marching back to the batcave.

“Bruce said we need to talk, so let’s talk.” His words made her pause momentarily.

“Talk about what?”

“What are we going to tell him? We’re dating and Jason can’t handle it so he is going insane? He’ll just say what he always does and say this is exactly why teammates shouldn’t date.”

His words had succeeded in stopping her from blaring out everything to Bruce right then and there, but it was only kindling to the fire inside that was slowly building. “Would that be the truth Robin? That we’re dating?”

“Yes?”

“Funny, because nobody else knows, except Jason. Which you never mentioned to me. You’ve been lying to me this whole trip which no one knows, except Jason. So as far as I’m concerned we aren’t dating, so that wouldn’t be the truth now would it.” Her hands balled into fists at her side as her stare penetrated him.

“You don’t mean that Raven…” Robin took a step back and looked downward at the floor.

“No. You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to play the victim. The charade is over Robin.” She stomped over to him and used her power to shove him back, bit by bit. “I know. I know about the mission, I know I’m here as plan B, as bait. I know that Batman is the one that wanted me here, not you. I know that if you had it your way, I’d still be back at the tower sitting quietly for you to come home to fuck.”

“YOU’RE RIGHT! Ok?” He stumbled backwards but caught himself. Raven’s power yielded but remained present, flickering around her fingertips. “You’re right. Is that what you want? Yes, Batman wanted you here for the mission. Jason only knew because he snooped. Yes, I’d rather you at the tower so you’d be safe. I don’t tell anyone about our relationship for the same reason, the more people that know the more you become a target to get at me. But I had no choice, Raven. I had to bring you but I wanted to keep you as far away from the mission as I could so you don’t get hurt. So yes, I lied. I’d rather that be the way you get hurt than if someone were to capture you or worse kill you. I’m sorry.” He was pacing around the hall and running a hand through his hair. 

Raven was trying to process what she was hearing. It had become so hard to tell if he was sincere or this was another one of his lies. Her own emotions were crazed so she dared not seek out his. 

“What do you want Raven? Hmm? I can’t make us public. If I do they’ll connect Dick to Robin since Starfire was public with Dick. I know that’s not fair to you but it is what it is. Trust me, I wish it were different.”

“What I want now is to be taken seriously by Batman. I shouldn’t of had to go out of my way to prove myself and fix the stupid way you made me look in front of him because you didn’t tell me anything. What I wanted then, is to be loved by you. I wanted you to trust me and let me be there for you through whatever, but you just couldn’t let anyone in. You just had to figure it out by yourself and make sure you were okay with how everything unfolded. I didn’t need the validation of other’s to prove our relationship was realQ You are so narrow minded, you don’t even see the bigger picture.” Raven leaned her back against the wall and sighed trying to keep rage inside..

“I do love you Raven. I just don’t know what I can do to prove it anymore.” He stood in front of her, but left a comfortable space between them. He looked defeated.

“I don’t know if I believe that Robin.” Her eyes locked with his, void of anger, for the first time since they started the conversation.

“Please Raven, I love you as Richard or Dick or whatever you want to call me, but I’m not just Robin. Why don’t you use my name anymore.”

“Because, I wasn’t sure if I truly earned that ‘honor’.” She looked to her left and folded her arms.

“What do you mean?”

Raven took in a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. “We’ve been dating for months now and it just seems that you gave me permission here, in front of Jason, just to shut him up because he was obviously about to bring up something about Starfire. I tried, but it didn’t feel right, just felt like another trick.”

“Look, Jason just exists to be a thorn in everyone’s side and I didn’t want him to pester you about it. It wasn’t a big deal to me for you to use my name since you’ve actually known my identity for so long. I’m sorry it came off that way.”

“Jason hasn’t been the problem and you know it.” She pushed off the wall and started walking in the direction of the library with Richard following closely behind.

“You can’t be serious?”

“I am. He has been the only one besides Alfred, keeping me sane here and making sure everything is ok because he actually takes notice.”

“That’s not fair, Rae, I’ve been busy with Bruce.” He caught up to her pace and was now walking alongside her.

“Not fair? It’s your fault to begin with that I wasn’t directly involved. If it hadn’t been for Jason taking me on that mission and actually getting information for you, I’m sure Batman would have skipped right to the baiting just to get me to do something.”

“Point taken. You’re right, but he has ulterior motives, he doesn’t do anything for anyone unless he gets something out of it.”

“You don’t know him at all then.” Raven pushed the door to the library open and stopped in the middle of the room rubbing at her oncoming headache.

“You hardly even know him Raven.” Richard’s voice was coming off harsh and defensive, a much different tone than before.

“Between me doing nothing, and him helping me with the case, I’ve been spending a pretty decent amount of time with him. In just a few days he’s shown me more care and devotion than you have our entire relationship!” Her anger matched his and they stood stiffly face to face.

“What are you implying? Did he try something with you?”

“So what if he had? Technically speaking we aren’t dating and he likes me.”

“Raven. Did he do anything to you?”

“To me? What do you think he is?”

“Answer the damn question Raven!”

“I kissed him.”

“You kissed him?” His voice was soft and his eyes widened.

“It was mutual. But yes, in the cave just before you were brought in. He had told me everything and I knew that I wanted whatever we had to be over. He practically bared his soul to me and he was real and meant it. We had connected so well in our time together and it felt right. Jason stopped us and let me have my space to control myself and he told me that he wouldn’t do anything until I talked to you. He wanted it to be right.”

“What’s right about you kissing him behind my back. I was out on a mission trying everything in my power to get this case done so you wouldn’t be needed. I lied to you, yes, I clearly hurt you, but you kissed Jason? You’re telling me that you could move on from us so quickly?” His voice was shaky now and his eyes glassy.

“There wasn’t an us Richard! You never let there be an us!” Tears pricked at her eyes and a lump formed in her throat. “There was me loving you, devoting myself to you, and you using me until you decided that you better choose to love me back or lose me altogether.”

Silence filled the room and they stared into each other’s tear soaked eyes. Raven straightened up and bit her lip trying to contain the torrent of emotions. Richard broke their locked gaze and sniffled, muscles tensing. 

_This was a disaster. How would they come back from everything they had gone through, everything they said? Could they still work together after this? She wasn’t sure. Richard was just as bad if not worse at dealing with his emotions as she was, and almost everything important in his life was blowing up in his face. It was his fault though, she had to keep reminding herself of that._

“When did you know you had feelings for him?” He was quiet and he still was staring blankly at the bookshelf across from him. 

“I don’t know, honestly. I first felt a friendship growing quickly. Then my emotions were going haywire from lack of sleep and in the library lust had taken over temporarily.” She saw him take a sharp breath in and she quickly added on, “Jason recognized the situation for what it was and brought me back. At that time I didn’t want to do anything, but I think I felt something in him that started to nudge me. I didn’t come here looking for this obviously. I don’t think I’ll be leaving here with anything either if it’s any consolation.”

He seemed to be genuinely confused, a bit happy, but confused nonetheless.

“As much as I want to be utterly pissed off at you and tell you to go to hell, I still care about you and I always will. We have a connection that is unparalleled and probably is unrepeatable. I know it, and so does Jason. He is jealous because he couldn’t possibly know me in the way you do. I defended you from him and after healing you, he took it as me taking your side. I’ve been defending you to him a lot and he sees what it’s done to me. I’ve done to him what I was upset that you were doing to me. I wasn’t letting him in and I was trying to handle it myself. I see that now and I’m not sure if I can fix it.”

“Do you want to fix it?” He now looked at her, a spark of hope in his eye.

“What?” 

“Do you want to be with him? Is it truly over between us?”

That spark was slowly dying with every second she took to answer. This was the moment that would change the course of her future. _If Jason would forgive her, would she want to be with him? Could she end what she has with Richard and not be regretful?_ As much as she felt like she had the power in this decision, she found it was Jason that held the cards. And that is how she knew what her heart wanted. She needed to know if Jason would want her, that made Richard the second choice. 

She could play it safe and fall back to Richard, he did seem like he would change, but that would be cruel to drag him along while she had hoped to be with Jason. She couldn’t do that, she wouldn’t do that.

“If Jason can forgive me...I want to see what could be between us. I think we have run our course Richard. And I think that we gave it all we had, all that we could and were willing to give.”

“I see.” His shoulders slumped and a single tear ran down his cheek. _Azar this hurts, seeing him in pain and knowing it was her fault...but it’s not, it’s his._

“I’m not mad. I see that now. You’re just not a place in your life where you need someone else, where you are comfortable to give your whole self to. And that’s okay. It’s okay that I wasn’t that person, as much as I had wanted to be. We both made mistakes, I expected too much from you because I wanted more, and you weren’t honest with yourself.”

“I...I want to convince you that you're wrong.”

“I know.”

“Rae, I don’t want to lose you.” He stepped closer to her.

“You can’t lose me Richard. We have a permanent bond. I will always be there for you when you need me. I still love you, I’m not sure that I could truly ever stop, but it’s not meant to be. You are and always will be my best friend and my leader if you’ll still be that for me.”

His arms wrapped around her and brought her into his chest, his chin resting on top of her head. She returned the gesture, knowing that he needed this to accept what she was saying. His mouth slid down to her ear, “I wish I could have been more for you, and I’m sorry that I wasn’t. I’ll be whatever you want me to be as long as I still get to have you in my life.”

She pulled back from the embrace and smiled sadly up at him. She could feel the bitter wisps of sorrow and defeat from him, snaking into her soul and nestling deeply. Normal would come back with time, but a vast mountain stood between now and then. 

Richard completed their separation and wiped at his eyes. “What are we going to report to Bruce?”

“Everything between us, why I wasn’t a part of the case earlier on, and why you and Jason have been at each other’s throats. He deserves to know the truth and it will allow us to move on.”

“Ok, but I won’t tell him about you and Jason though. That’s none of his business and it doesn’t affect anything.”

“But I want him to know the truth.” She looked perplexed.

“He will, but trust me on this. If you want a real shot at something with Jason, Bruce cannot be involved.”

“Ok.” She rubbed her arm nervously but Richard’s hand covered her own and froze it in its place.

“It will be fine.”

Raven simply nodded and headed out of the room, destination set for the batcave. She heard the footsteps of Richard behind her and eventually in step with hers.

His voice came from beside her once more, “I want you to be happy Raven. I’ve always wanted that. It may not come across now, or for a while, but I hope you find what you’re looking for. And if you don’t find it out there, I hope you’ll be willing to try again with me.” They traveled a bit further down the hall, a heavy silence blanketing them. “We should get ourselves situated before we go in to report, I’ll meet you down there at eight sharp.” He peeled off down another hallway and left her to roam silently.

His words had been sincere, still soaked in sadness and hurt, but that was the side of Richard she wished he had shown since the beginning. It was too late now, but she would at least know it was there and he had allowed her to finally see it. 

**Author's Note:**

> I post other stories on tumblr. My username is the same across the board. Eventually I'll put them here though! Thanks!


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